Author: PA
Publication: Scotsman.com
Date: December 3, 2003
URL: http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2254823
Australia's spy agency warned today
that al-Qaida-linked groups were in the country and sympathisers who had
received terror training in Pakistan and Afghanistan were probably moving
around undetected.
In its annual report presented to
Parliament, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)
said many of those with alleged al-Qaida links were Australian citizens.
"A number are known to have received
terrorist training in Afghanistan and Pakistan," ASIO's chief Dennis Richardson
said. "There are almost certainly others about whom we are not aware."
ASIO said in its report that al-Qaida
and its affiliates, particularly the Southeast Asian Islamic extremist
group Jemaah Islamiyah, had ties with groups in Australia and that some
of their members had been trained by al- Qaida.
The report said the level of instruction
given to the Australians ranged from the basic military level to advanced
terrorist tactics.
Although there has never been a
major terror attack on Australian soil, 88 Australians were among the 202
people killed when bombs tore through two nightclubs on the Indonesian
island of Bali in October 2002. Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the
attacks.
