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