Australian Financial Review, November 21, 2001
Al Qaeda 'trained in Indonesia'
Lenore Taylor in London
Al Qaeda terrorists who planned the September 11 attacks trained this year at secret
camps in Indonesia and have links with extremists in Australia, according to court
documents in Spain where eight alleged terrorists have been jailed pending trial.
Contact with nine countries was cited as evidence that Syrian-born Imad Edin Barakat
Yarkas, known as Abu Dahdah, led Al Qaeda attack planning, recruiting and training
around the world.
The list included a trip to Indonesia to meet "an individual named Parlindungan Siregar
aka Parlin, an Al Qaeda leader in that country" and telephone contact with an
Australian Islamic leader known as Abu Suhaib.
A local spokesman from the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, which
represents more than 40 ethnic groups in Australia, the Lebanese Society and the
country's largest Arabic newspaper, El Telegraph, could not confirm Abu Suhaib's
identity. The spokesman said Abu Suhaib was not a proper name.
The indictment says all the listed contacts by Abu Dahdah, including trips to
Afghanistan and meetings with September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, took place
since 1996.
Another of the eight jailed men, Luis Jose Gallant Gonzalez, known as Yusuf Gallant,
is accused of taking military training at an Indonesian Al Qaeda camp in July. Again
"Parlin" is named as his contact.
Parlin works in the structure of the Laskar Jihad organisation, the court documents
say.
When arrested at his Madrid home last week, police found guns, ammunition, knives,
a bulletproof vest, forged identification documents, travel documents to Indonesia and
pictures apparently taken at the Indonesian camp.
Many observers had regarded radical Islamic groups in Indonesia like Laskar Jihad to
be fairly weak and primarily focused on local conflicts but, according to evidence in
the Spanish court, Indonesia is an international Al Qaeda training site.
The Spanish El-Pais newspaper quoted police sources as saying that between "2,000
and 3,000 fighters" had been trained in Indonesia. The paper said Spanish authorities
had given their information to the FBI. Laskar Jihad has formally denied links with Al
Qaeda.
But last night, Indonesian Government officials denied that thousands of Muslim
extremists had trained in camps there. They also dismissed claims of a radical
Indonesian Muslim group that trained foreign volunteers in handling weapons and
explosives in secret camps.
The eight, the first accused Al Qaeda members to be charged in Europe, had been
"directly linked to the preparation and carrying out of the attacks perpetrated by
suicide pilots on September 11", said Judge Balthasar Garzon, who was previously in
the spotlight throught his attempts to gain the extradition of former Chilean General
Augustus Pinochet from Britain to Spain.
Abu Dahdah is said to have visited bin Laden in Afghanistan this year and to have
taken his instructions from Muhammad Atef, Al Qaeda's military commander who is
believed to have been killed last Thursday. He was also in regular contact with
hijacker Mohamed Atta.
He is accused of recruiting Arabs to Al Qaeda in Spain and sending them to
Afghanistan, Bosnia and Indonesia for training. He had allegedly been planning
chemical attacks and suicide bombings across Europe.
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