Thai security officials are investigating 20 Muslem leaders in southern Thailand for suspected financial links with detained Indonesian terrorist Hambali, media reports said yesterday.
The probe is examining whether southern Muslem militants have been receiving financial support from the al-Qaeda terrorist network or the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, The Nation newspaper reported.
Hambali, who was arrested in the Thai city of Ayutthaya last August by a joint force of Thai and US security personnel, was believed to be al-Qaeda's chief Southeast Asia operative. Authorities also believe he masterminded the bombings of two nightspots October 12, 2002, in Bali that killed 202 people.
He allegedly visited Thailand on several occasions before his arrest, but has never been directly linked to the outbreak of militancy that shook the southern provinces in Thailand, sparking a government crackdown that left 107 Thai Muslems dead.
In a new development, the Thai army is reportedly offering Thai Muslem families free trips to Mecca to those who help locate weapons allegedly stolen by Muslem militants in a raid on an army camp last January.
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