Al-Qaeda may have bought diamonds

Al-Qaeda may have bought diamonds

SIERRA LEONE: The al-Qaeda network of the world's most wanted
terrorist Osama bin Laden has direct links with Sierra Leonean
rebels and may have bought "conflict diamonds" from them, sources
in Freetown said.

U.S. and Sierra Leonean media reports have alleged links
between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, which
has been waging a decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, and the
al-Qaeda.

The supposed go-between is Ibrahim Bah, a Senegalese trained
in Libya, who apparently helped the al-Qaeda set up base in
Liberia and then helped the group to buy diamonds mined by the
RUF, according to the media.

The RUF, the political wing of the rebel group, has denied an
allegation in the Washington Post that Bah sold diamonds to the
al-Qaeda and launched an internal probe into the charge. --AFP