January 19, 2002, AFP, Indonesian linked to Singapore terror scheme, al-Qaeda,

January 19, 2002, AFP, Indonesian linked to Singapore terror scheme, al-Qaeda,

An Indonesian arrested in the Philippines in connection with a series of deadly bombings in 2000, has been linked to a terror plot in Singapore and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, Philippine police said.

The Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, was arrested on Tuesday based on information provided by Singapore that he was a key leader of the Jemaah Islamiya, an Islamic "terror group operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia," a police statement said.

Police also said they believed al-Ghozi had links to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Al-Ghozi's arrest led police in the southern Philippines on Thursday to seize a cache of explosives and weapons meant for attacks on Southeast Asian countries and arrest three Muslim Filipino associates.

The police said that Al-Ghozi had provided funding and bomb components to a certain Mukhlis Yunos, the principal suspect in an investigation into deadly bomb blasts in Manila in December, 2000 that claimed over a dozen lives and left scores injured.

The Indonesian had been an explosives trainer with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a local Muslim separatist group that has since opened peace talks with the government, the police said.

He went to Singapore in October to "assist in the preparation for the bombing of the US and Israeli embassies, the Australian and British high commissions, US companies and military installations," the police statement added.

Earlier this month, Singapore revealed that it had arrested 13 people linked to Jemaah Islamiya who were planning attacks on US military personnel and US navy ships. Eight of them were confirmed to have received training in al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.

Al-Ghozi was due to leave for Bangkok on the day he was arrested, the Philippine police said.