'SE Asian militants on anti-Israel missions'

Jakarata, Aug 4: More than 200 Islamic militants from Southeast Asia have been sent on missions to attack Israel's interests and countries that support the Jewish state, their leader said today.

The fighters have been trained to carry out suicide bombings to revenge Israel's military strikes on the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, said Suaib Didu, chairman of the Jakarta-based ASEAN Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM).

''We will limit our targets to Israel's vital interests and those that support Israel's aggression in Palestine and Lebanon. We will not carry out attacks indiscriminately,'' Didu told sources.

Hardline militant groups in Indonesia have made claims in the past of sending volunteers to participate in conflicts overseas which have sometimes proved exaggerated.

Western countries such as the United States and Britain as well as businesses could be targeted unless they ceased supporting Israel, he said.

Didu said the group was watching Australia's position on the W Asia conflict.

''If John Howard makes a statement in support of Israel, he will be a target,'' Didu said.

More than 3,000 people have signed up for the mission but only 217 people from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore have been dispatched abroad so far, he said.

A ''show of force'' of the more than 3,000 volunteers will be held tomorrow in Pontianak in West Kalimantan province on Borneo island, Didu said, adding that many of the 200-plus fighters were veterans who fought alongside Afghan fighters during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the moderate Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation, had said yesterday that threats by radical Muslim groups to send volunteers to fight Israel were just ''symbolic gestures'' to show solidarity with the Palestinians and Lebanese.

''There are too many obstacles for these people to travel there.

It is too costly and the Israeli army is no match for them,'' he told reporters.

But in Canberra, Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said today the government was not shrugging off reports of the AMYM's plans.

''The minister for foreign affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs are investigating what is reported in the papers today and we are treating it very, very seriously,'' Hockey told Australian television.

Australia is a staunch ally of the United States, with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. While it has been targeted in attacks in Indonesia, Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

Australia and Indonesia strengthened cooperation on counter-terrorism following the 2002 nightclub bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.

The Lebanon war sparking anger among many Muslims in Indonesia and elsewhere around the world erupted after the militant Hizbollah organisation snatched two Israeli soldiers in a raid across the border on July 12.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said Israeli strikes since then have killed 900 people in Lebanon and wounded 3,000, with a third of the casualties children under 12. The Reuters tally of Lebanon deaths is at least 686.

Sixty-eight Israelis have been killed in the war including 41 soldiers.

Reuters

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