abc News, February 28, 2006
Police: al-Qaida Funded Indonesia Attacks
Police Official Says al-Qaida Helped Fund Suicide Bombings in
Indonesia
By ZAKKI HAKIM, The Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Osama bin Laden's terror network helped fund suicide
bombings in Indonesia over the past four years, a senior police official said Tuesday,
highlighting links between al-Qaida and the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
The mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Khalid Sheikh
Mohammad, personally arranged for a courier to deliver money ! to leaders of Jemaah
Islamiyah to help fund attacks in the world's most populous Muslim country from
2002-2005, said Col. Petrus Reinhard Golose of Indonesia's counterterrorism task
force.
Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the 2002 nightclub attacks on the resort island of Bali
that killed 202 people, attacks in the capital Jakarta in 2003 and 2004 that together
killed 21, and triple suicide bombings on Bali in October that killed 20.
Golose said several members of Jemaah Islamiyah met directly with bin Laden in
Afghanistan and signed agreements with him before launching the attacks, but he did
not elaborate.
It was not immediately clear from which country the funds originated, but he said the
money passed through Thailand and Malaysia before reaching Indonesia.
"Thirty thousand U.S. dollars was sent for the first Bali bombing," Golose said, adding
that "tens of thousands of dollars" was sent for the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott
Hotel in Jakarta.
Some of the leftover cash was used for the 2004 attack on the Australian Embassy in
Jakarta, he said. He said he was uncertain how much al-Qaida money was used for
the latest attack on Bali, targeting three crowded restaurants.
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