October 29, 2002	Tuesday	Sha’aban 22,1423

SYDNEY, Oct 28: Muslim radicals linked to the Al Qaeda want to incorporate northern Australia into a vast “pan-Islamic state” spanning much of southeast Asia, a television report alleged on Monday.

The Australia Broadcasting Corporation quoted a secret Philippine intelligence report as saying the Indonesian group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) was behind the plan for a vast Muslim state.

The ABC report said a two-month investigation by its Four Corners news programme found evidence that the alleged spiritual leader of JI, Abu Bakar Bashir, and another radical, Riduan Isamudin, were architects of a terror campaign in Southeast Asia over the past three years as part of the plot.

The intelligence report came from the Philippines, which is said to have been chosen by the Al Qaeda network as its first base in Southeast Asia in 1988.

Osama was said to have sent his brother to the Philippines to gather support as early as 1998.—AFP