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Thailand detains Muslim school owner, three students on possible al-Qaeda ties

he owner of a Muslim religious school and three of his students were being held for questioning about possible links with al-Qaeda after soldiers seized military training videos from the terrorist organization at their school, an army spokesman said yesterday.

The school in the southern Pattani Province was raided last Thursday after the military learned that it had been used for military training, said Colonel Arkhom Pongprom.

Adinan Jehazae, 33, the owner of the Jihad Witthaya school, and the students were being detained in an army camp in the province and undergoing interrogation, the spokesman told reporters.

"They are being questioned about how they acquired the al-Qaeda videos and we believe whoever has such videos must have bad intentions ... and is a threat to national security," Arkhom said.

More than 800 people have died since January last year in southern Thailand where authorities say a resurgent Islamic separatist movement must be stopped. The country's Muslim minority, mostly centered in the south, has long complained about being relegated to second-class status.

Soldiers raided the school after two persons arrested on charges of setting fire to Buddhist schools reportedly confessed that they had received military training at Jihad Witthaya.

"During the raid we found that the school has been used as a training ground because it had a firing range and several bullet holes were found in trees. We seized two pistols," Arkhom said.

The four were being detained for seven days of questioning and would be charged if they were found to have any links with foreign terrorist groups or the violence in the south, Arkhom said.
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