January 13, 2002	Sunday	Shawwal 28, 1422

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has revealed that the shooting of a state assemblyman and attack on a police station was the work of guerillas linked with Osama bin Laden.

The New Straits Times newspaper on Saturday quoted Mahathir as saying that investigations showed that members of a “cell” of the Malaysian Militant Group (KMM) carried out the murder and attack with the aim of toppling the government.

Mahathir said police obtained the information from a robber who was detained after a botched bank robbery in May.

“One of the robbers was interrogated and from this source we learned that the assassination and the attack on the police station last February were carried out by the same group,” the 76-year-old premier said.

The murdered assemblyman who was shot at point-blank range in Nov 2000 was Joe Fernandez, a politician from Mahathir’s home state Kedah.

“As far as we are concerned their intentions are very bad, namely to create trouble and to overthrow the government through terrorism,” he said.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party, described Mahathir’s remarks as “disturbing”.

“Malaysians are mystefied as to how Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorists network have such extensive reach and influence in Malaysia as to be able to orchestrate the assassination of Joe Fernandez and the attack on the police station,” he said in a statement.—AFP