KL keeps 10 suspected militants in jail

KL keeps 10 suspected militants in jail

Jasbant Singh, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia extended the detention of 10 suspected Islamic militants
for two more years on Saturday, saying they still posed a threat
to national security, officials said.

The 10 were among dozens of alleged militants arrested in late
2001 and early 2002, when authorities in Malaysia and neighboring
Singapore said they had uncovered an al-Qaida-linked plot by the
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror organization to blow up the U.S.
Embassy and other Western targets in Singapore.

Yusuf Amin, a senior police official, told The Associated
Press that Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar had signed
the orders for the two-year extension.

The 10 remained "dangerous as they still showed strong
inclination toward militancy and therefore remain a threat to
national security," a security official told The Associated Press
on customary condition of anonymity.

The 10, including two Indonesians, are accused of being
members of JI, which has been blamed for a series of deadly bomb
blasts in Southeast Asia, the official said.

All were detained under the Internal Security Act, which
allows for indefinite detention without trial.

One of the 10, Agung Biyadi Ahmad Bunyamin, testified at the
trial of Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged leader of JI, in Jakarta
last year.

Agung, who gave evidence through a video link from Kuala
Lumpur, told the Indonesian court that Bashir was the head of JI.

Bashir, 66, was rearrested in April after serving an 18-month
term for minor immigration offenses.

JI is believed to be responsible for the bombing of the J.W.
Marriott hotel in Jakarta last August that killed 12 people, as
well as the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings of nightclubs in Bali in
which 202 people were killed.

Malaysia has detained without trial more than 70 alleged
members of Islamic militant groups, some of whom are accused of
helping al-Qaeda operatives while they were in Malaysia and with
plotting attacks in Southeast Asia.

Among those detained is Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army
captain accused of helping several top al-Qaeda operatives when
they visited Malaysia in 2000 -- including two Sept. 11, 2001,
hijackers -- and a close associate of alleged JI leader Riduan
Isamuddin, also known as Hambali.

Officials say Yazid, a U.S.-trained biochemist, is also linked
to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological
weapons. Yazid was arrested in late 2001 as he returned to
Malaysia from Afghanistan. His detention was extended for two
years in January.