Al-Qaeda's connections in the Philippines include Islamic schools and charities through which millions of dollars have flowed to support the group and its allies across South and East Asia, officials said.
They include the International Islamic Relief Organization office and the Al Makdum university in Zamboanga, a city on the island of Mindanao, just north of Basilan island. Bin Laden's brother-in-law, Mohammed Jalal Khalifa, was an administrator at both institutions. Neither is operating any longer, and Khalifa was arrested by the Saudi government after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Also since the attacks, Philippine intelligence officers have arrested two suspected Abu Sayyaf commanders and several men they described as foreigners carrying bombs. Malaysia has charged the son of a leading opposition politician with plotting to overthrow the government. Indonesia has jailed two Malaysians in connection with a series of bombings.
In Indonesia, armed Islamic fundamentalist groups have received money, men and arms from the bin Laden group and its allies, officials said. One group, Laskar Jihad, they said, has been reinforced by Taliban guerrillas. Another, the Islamic Defenders Front, is threatening violence against American officials and organizations.
Some members of al-Qaeda have transited through the international airport at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, officials said. One of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar, was videotaped in January last year at a meeting of terrorists in Kuala Lumpur.
President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines said recently that "traces of relationship" exist between the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and the Sept. 11 attack plotters. She has offered the US airspace and the use of two large former US military installations, the Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay naval base, for transit and staging operations.
The offer was secured in a meeting at Subic Bay two weeks ago between Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Rolio Golez, the Philippine national security adviser.
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