Radical Muslims Set Up Relief Camp
Regional Islamic Group is Alleged to Have al-Qaida Ties
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, AP

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Jan. 6) -- An extremist Islamic group with
alleged links to al-Qaida

has set up a relief camp in the
tsunami-stricken Aceh province on Sumatra island, raising concerns its
fiercely anti-American members could stir up sentiment against U.S. and
Australian troops helping to distribute aid.

Radical Muslims Set Up Relief Camp
Regional Islamic Group is Alleged to Have al-Qaida Ties
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, AP

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Jan. 6) -- An extremist Islamic group with

to al-Qaida has set up a relief camp in the tsunami-stricken Aceh

Sumatra island, raising concerns its fiercely anti-American members

up sentiment against U.S. and Australian troops helping to distribute

The group, Laskar Mujahidin, posted an English-language sign at the

reads, ''Islamic Law Enforcement.'' Its members said Thursday they

collecting corpses, distributing food and spreading Islamic teachings

refugees.

Radical Muslims Set Up Relief Camp
Regional Islamic Group is Alleged to Have al-Qaida Ties
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, AP

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Jan. 6) -- An extremist Islamic group with alleged links
to al-Qaida has set up a relief camp in the tsunami-stricken Aceh province on
Sumatra island, raising concerns its fiercely anti-American members could stir
up sentiment against U.S. and Australian troops helping to distribute aid.

The group, Laskar Mujahidin, posted an English-language sign at the camp that
reads, ''Islamic Law Enforcement.'' Its members said Thursday they have been
collecting corpses, distributing food and spreading Islamic teachings among
refugees.

The presence of the group, known for killing Christians during a long-running
sectarian conflict in another part of Indonesia, generated fears that U.S.
military personnel and others involved in relief work could become a terror
target.

It also underscores the fine line that foreigners, especially the American
military, must tread between being welcomed as Samaritans or viewed as invaders
in a country where suspicion of outsiders runs deep.

U.S., Australian and South Korean government officials said they were aware of
security threats in the region and were taking precautions. One major aid
agency said its staff had been ordered not to fly in U.S. helicopters.

Analysts said that Islamic terrorists known to operate in Indonesia would be
foolish to try to attack anyone helping the hundreds of thousands of tsunami
victims because it could result in aid groups pulling out and sour the
militants' chances of building popular support.

But they warned that radical groups entering the disaster zone to help in the
relief effort would also try to stoke anti-Western sentiment, and wait for an
opportunity to attack if public support for outside help wanes.

Ship-based U.S. Navy and Marine helicopter crews have flown scores of missions
to coastal villages in recent days, delivering food and water and sometimes
bringing injured survivors to the Banda Aceh airport. The Americans have been
welcomed with gratitude.

Lt. Cmdr. John Daniel, a spokesman for the USS Abraham Lincoln battle group,
said helicopter crews were not taking special security precautions and that the
Indonesian military - which has long fought separatist rebels in Aceh - was
helping with security.

''We feel safe with the Indonesian military there,'' Daniel said. ''We are
cautious, but we're not doing anything special.''

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told The Associated Press his
government had examined the potential threat from terrorists and there was no
cause for alarm. ''We monitored this but we have no evidence of it being a
problem,'' Downer said.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is predominantly moderate
but hosts dozens of radical Islamic groups. Non-governmental organizations of
all kinds - religious, political and others - have rushed to Sumatra to help in
the relief effort, many of them ferried in on Indonesian military planes.

Among those brought in on military aircraft were 50 members of Laskar
Mujahidin, according to Jundi, a Laskar group member who like many Indonesians
goes by a single name.

Jundi said Laskar Mujahidin has set up four posts in Aceh, and sent more than
200 members to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, where they have joined other
aid organizations at a camp near the military airport.

The militant group was founded in the late 1990s to launch attacks against
priests and churches in the Maluku islands in eastern Indonesia, where large
pockets of Christians live; some 9,000 people died in sectarian violence in the
Malukus from 1999 to 2001.

The guerrillas operated in small bands, were often described as Ninjas, and
reportedly wore masks when fighting. The organization's fighters numbered about
500 at its height in mid-2000.


''[The Laskar Mujahidin] is here for humanitarian reasons. We should not be
prejudiced against them."
-- Lt. Gen. Suyitno Landung, Indonesia's chief detective

"Our teams are told that they should not fly in American army helicopters,
since we're concerned that they could be a particular target."
-- Michel Brugiere, director of Medicins du Monde (Doctors of the World)

''We are here to help our Muslim brothers. As long as [foreign troops] are here
to help, we will have no problem with them." -- Jundi, Laskar Mujahidin member

The group, from Indonesia's main island of Java, is unlikely to attract much
support among native Acehnese, who are a fiercely independent people. Three
years ago, another radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, tried to open branches
in the province but residents drove it out.

Laskar Mujahidin has been accused of having links to terrorist groups outside
Indonesia, including al-Qaida, according to a report by Sidney Jones, an expert
on Indonesia's Islamic radical organizations. It also reportedly accepted aid
offered by an emissary of Osama bin Laden, Jones wrote.

In a speech Thursday in Singapore, Jones said Laskar Mujahidin's motives on
Sumatra may have to do with fears that the foreign humanitarian effort was a
veiled attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Jundi, the Laskar Mujahidin member, said the group would not interfere with
foreign troops - as long as they kept strictly to humanitarian operations.

''We are here to help our Muslim brothers,'' he said. ''As long as they are
here to help, we will have no problem with them.''

But their presence highlighted the persistent danger of terrorism in Indonesia,
and the murky and overlapping links of militant groups.

Laskar Mujahidin was once headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, an Islamic cleric now on
trial as an alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has close links to
al-Qaida. Some Jemaah Islamiyah members helped the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202
people, a 2003 blast at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12, and
a suicide car bomb outside the Australian Embassy two months ago that killed
10. Bashir denies being a terrorist and says Jemaah Islamiyah does not exist.
During a court hearing last week, he offered prayers for the victims of the
tsunami.

Indonesian police said the threat was being exaggerated - a position that
Indonesian officials frequently took about Islamic terror groups before the
Bali attack.

''This group is here for humanitarian reasons,'' said Indonesia's chief
detective, Lt. Gen. Suyitno Landung. ''We should not be prejudiced against
them. I'm worried the media is exaggerating the threat of this group.''

Against such a backdrop, the South Korean government issued a warning Thursday
saying it had ''acquired intelligence that our relief groups in Indonesia and
some other areas are becoming a possible target of terror attacks.''

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official, speaking to the AP on condition of
anonymity, said the warning was ''not based on verifiable intelligence'' and
the statement was issued as a ''precautionary warning.''

European governments and aid groups said they received no special terror
warnings.

But Michel Brugiere, director of Medicins du Monde, or Doctors of the World,
said that ''given the context of the area where we are operating, we have very
strict security measures in place.''

''Our teams are told that they should not fly in American army helicopters,
since we're concerned that they could be a particular target,'' Brugiere said.

Associated Press writers Wee Sui Lee in Singapore, Michael Casey in Jakarta,
Sang-hun Choe in South Korea, Jasbant Singh in Malaysia, and Denis D. Gray
aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, and Laurence Frost in Paris contributed to this
report.

AP-NY-01-06-05 21:43 EST