'Al-Qaeda network present in SE Asia'

'Al-Qaeda network present in SE Asia'

MALAYSIA: Intelligence gathered by Southeast Asian security
officials has revealed the presence of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
terror network in the region, a top Thai defense official said in
Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

"We have cooperated with other countries in intelligence
sharing. We have some proof of that," Adm. Narong Yuthavong,
supreme commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, told reporters
in response to a question.

Narong is in Malaysia for a three-day biannual intelligence
meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Gen. Mohamad Zahidi
Zainduddin, chief of defense forces.

Mohamad Zahidi said that one of the top issues of the 10th
high level dialog between Malaysia and Thailand was to identify
ways of beating terrorism.

Of nearly 100 suspected terrorists being held in Singapore and
Malaysia, most have been linked to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which
is trying to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia
taking in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and the southern
Philippines. --AFP