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.