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CNN Live Today
Al Qaeda Link to Indonesia Bombings?
Aired October 15, 2002 - 10:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Experts say that if al Qaeda is indeed behind the bombings in Bali and other recent attacks as well, it shows a troubling pattern that the group is becoming harder to predict and even harder to stop.
Well now yet another CNN exclusive, the first known videotapes of an al Qaeda training camp in Indonesia. This tape comes from the al Qaeda's tape archive that CNN obtained in Afghanistan.
CNN Jakarta bureau chief Maria Ressa has more now in this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): In the Arab world this is recognized as Osama bin Laden's battle cry, to the front, to the front goes the chant. These images are part of a collection of al Qaeda videotapes obtained by CNN from Afghanistan.
The tapes are believed to be from al Qaeda's video library. Many of the images we can't show you because they're extremely graphic, pictures of beheadings and amputations, atrocities the tape says are reasons to join the jihad in Indonesia. The men speaking in Indonesian describe themselves as mujahideen. The Arabic narration says these mujahideen are fighting the disbelievers and they will fight until death. And then pictures of something the Indonesian government has never acknowledged existed, an al Qaeda training camp inside Indonesia.
ROHAN GUNARATNA, AL QAEDA EXPERT: That video is of a training camp in Indonesia. It is very likely that the camp is the forso suasi (ph), training camp that was run by al Qaeda until July 2000.
RESSA: Reports of the forso camp first publicly surfaced last November in court documents in Spain after the arrest of an al Qaeda leader there. That group, the documents say, allegedly sent hundreds of al Qaeda operatives from Europe to Indonesia for training.
According to the date on this video, it was taped around the same time as the visit of two senior al Qaeda leaders. Intelligence documents from the region say Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2, and Mohammed Atef, al Qaeda's former military chief, visited Indonesia two years ago. These documents say to assess the idea of moving al Qaeda's base of operations to Southeast Asia.
GUNARATNA: All Indonesian security and intelligence reports very clearly indicate of an al Qaeda presence in Indonesia. RESSA: Still, partly because of fears of a domestic backlashing, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, that was never acknowledged by Indonesian officials until after the blasts in Bali this weekend, attacks the Defense Minister now links to al Qaeda.
(on camera): That is a dramatic change in Indonesia's policy. The government is now warning about terrorist plots against oil and gas installations. Officials say they will take precautions and firm action, putting the focus now on exactly what concrete steps the Indonesian government will take to begin to dismantle al Qaeda's network here.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 15, 2002 - 10:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Experts say that if al Qaeda is indeed behind the bombings in Bali and other recent attacks as well, it shows a troubling pattern that the group is becoming harder to predict and even harder to stop.
Well now yet another CNN exclusive, the first known videotapes of an al Qaeda training camp in Indonesia. This tape comes from the al Qaeda's tape archive that CNN obtained in Afghanistan.
CNN Jakarta bureau chief Maria Ressa has more now in this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): In the Arab world this is recognized as Osama bin Laden's battle cry, to the front, to the front goes the chant. These images are part of a collection of al Qaeda videotapes obtained by CNN from Afghanistan.
The tapes are believed to be from al Qaeda's video library. Many of the images we can't show you because they're extremely graphic, pictures of beheadings and amputations, atrocities the tape says are reasons to join the jihad in Indonesia. The men speaking in Indonesian describe themselves as mujahideen. The Arabic narration says these mujahideen are fighting the disbelievers and they will fight until death. And then pictures of something the Indonesian government has never acknowledged existed, an al Qaeda training camp inside Indonesia.
ROHAN GUNARATNA, AL QAEDA EXPERT: That video is of a training camp in Indonesia. It is very likely that the camp is the forso suasi (ph), training camp that was run by al Qaeda until July 2000.
RESSA: Reports of the forso camp first publicly surfaced last November in court documents in Spain after the arrest of an al Qaeda leader there. That group, the documents say, allegedly sent hundreds of al Qaeda operatives from Europe to Indonesia for training.
According to the date on this video, it was taped around the same time as the visit of two senior al Qaeda leaders. Intelligence documents from the region say Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2, and Mohammed Atef, al Qaeda's former military chief, visited Indonesia two years ago. These documents say to assess the idea of moving al Qaeda's base of operations to Southeast Asia.
GUNARATNA: All Indonesian security and intelligence reports very clearly indicate of an al Qaeda presence in Indonesia. RESSA: Still, partly because of fears of a domestic backlashing, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, that was never acknowledged by Indonesian officials until after the blasts in Bali this weekend, attacks the Defense Minister now links to al Qaeda.
(on camera): That is a dramatic change in Indonesia's policy. The government is now warning about terrorist plots against oil and gas installations. Officials say they will take precautions and firm action, putting the focus now on exactly what concrete steps the Indonesian government will take to begin to dismantle al Qaeda's network here.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
