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UPI Terrorism Watch

By JOHN C.K. DALY, UPI International Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Heightening fears that outside militants are infiltrating Thailand's turbulent southern provinces, Thai naval units Monday took a trawler into custody off Satun and arrested 22 Indonesians from Aceh.

Thai navy chief Adm Sathirapan Keyanont said the men intended to stir up trouble in Thailand, but gave no specifics.

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The Third Fleet intercepted the Indonesian-registered trawler.

Sathirapan said authorities suspected that the men might be linked to separatist Muslim militants in the country's southern Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, but could not be sure until their investigations were complete.

Heightening security officials' concerns was the fact that the arrests buttressed earlier intelligence that Thai Muslim insurgents were recruiting members of terrorist networks outside of Thailand to carry out large-scale attacks in the south of the country.

Authorities declined to say where the suspects were being detained or who they were.

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In the wake of the arrests, security forces have been instructed to step up patrols and tighten checks, especially in violence-prone areas, the Bangkok Post reported.

Authorities are attempting to determine if the men have any ties to The Free Aceh Movement. The Free Aceh Movement, also known by the acronym GAM, is an armed separatist group seeking independence for the Indonesian province.

GAM was formed in 1976, and in nearly 30 years of armed struggle more than 15,000 people are estimated to have died. GAM's activity diminished considerably in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami, which devastated the province.


Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek has denied charges in the Turkish media that Syrian al-Qaida member Louai Sakka was interrogated by CIA operatives in Kandira prison.

"Sakka has been visited by his sister and nephew as well as his lawyer so far. He has not met any foreigner except his sister and nephew who are of foreign nationality. And, these visits were made upon the permission of the Directorate General of Prisons," TurkishPress.com reported Cicek as saying.

In August 32 year-old Sakka and his accomplice, 21 year-old Hamed Obysi, were sought by police in Antalya after a bomb they were allegedly constructing exploded in an apartment and neighbors informed police.

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Police arrested Obysi and subsequently picked up Sakka in Diyarbakir. At the time of his arrest Sakka had $120,000. Authorities believe that the pair were plotting to bomb an Israeli cruise ship with an explosives-laden yacht.

Sakka's lawyer, Osman Karahan, said at a news conference that he would make an inquiry about the CIA airplane that landed at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport on Nov. 15. Karahan claims that the CIA questioned other people besides Sakka.

Sakka told Karahan that the day the U.S. aircraft arrived, a Turkish official and two CIA operatives visited Kandira and pressured him to answer questions.

When Sakka refused, the intelligence officers reportedly forced him to sign the photo identifications and addresses of Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al-Qaida official arrested in Pakistan in March 2002.

Karahan also claimed that U.S. and Israeli Mossad agents kidnapped Algerian businessman Zekeriya Soubah in Istanbul and tortured him during an interrogation in the Turkish National Intelligence Organization headquarters in Besiktas, Istanbul.


While Washington refuses to give a definite date for withdrawing its troops from Iraq, more and more coalition members are downsizing their military presence there. Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that while Poland will withdraw its remaining 1,400 troops from Iraq next year, it might shift the deadline back from January to mid-year.

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Alone among continental European countries Poland sent a small military contingent to fight in March 2003 during the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, and began contributing troops to the coalition forces in July 2003.

At its height Poland had 2,500 troops stationed in Iraq. Poland has lost 17 soldiers in Iraq: 11 in engagements or ambushes and six in accidents.

Poland's continuing presence in Iraq has also become an issue in Polish politics, as the deployment is increasingly unpopular. In October Warsaw's Mayor Lech Kaczynski was elected president. The leftist government unseated in the elections had planned to withdraw the remaining 1,400 troops by the end of January.

Kaczynski and his party pledged to uphold the government's earlier decision to withdraw the troops but hinted the soldiers could remain longer if Poland can renegotiate the terms of their deployment.

Radio Polonia reported that, according to Sikorski, the security situation in Iraq's south-central province where the Polish forces operate has improved sufficiently for the Poles to hand over responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.

Sikorski confirmed that his right-wing government would decide by mid-December whether to keep the deadline or have some 900 troops stay for another six months.

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