-Caveat Lector- >From Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,145007427,00.html? - Tuesday, November 30, 1999 U.S. Embassy in Cambodia is on high alert PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) � The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia is on heightened alert after a report that Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden is allegedly planning terrorist activity in Cambodia, embassy officials said Tuesday. The number of staff has been reduced and several embassy services suspended while the U.S. government assesses the credibility of the threat, publicized in an obscure English-language newspaper, the Vision. "This purported threat is directed only at selected diplomatic missions and not at the public at large," an embassy notice said. "The threat is allegedly sourced to an Islamic extremist group linked to terrorist bin Laden, accused of masterminding the two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in August 1998." The Vision quoted unnamed "diplomatic and foreign military intelligence sources" as saying bin Laden aims to set up training camps where the Thai, Laotian and Cambodian borders meet. The sources said he would be getting help from Islamic Thai separatist guerrillas and remnants of Cambodian resistance groups. The report also claims three foreign embassies in Phnom Penh have been targeted for terrorist attacks because of their nations' conflicts with Islamic countries or organizations. U.S. officials declined to elaborate on the veracity of the report, but indicated the Vision was not the sole source of the alleged threat. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Indian and Russian embassies are among the other alleged terrorist targets. The Cambodian government also downplayed the report, but is nonetheless playing it safe by ordering police and military to tighten security in the capital and survey remote border regions. "It would surprise me if bin Laden would come here to Cambodia, or even to this region. But we have to wait for the police investigation," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. Bin Laden, a Saudi exile believed to be living in Afghanistan, is accused by the United States of masterminding last year's U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The explosions killed 224 people. The Thai-Cambodian border has been the traditional base of Cambodian guerrilla groups, especially the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge, who fought from the jungles along the border after their ouster from power in 1979. The Khmer Rouge movement � blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during its rule in the late 1970s � crumbled late last year, but the border remains a remote and lawless frontier strewn with land mines and exploited by smugglers. Cambodia has a small population of Muslim Chams. They have not been connected to any terrorist or extremist activity in recent memory. Thailand's Islamic separatists occasionally explode small bombs, but their operations are confined to the extreme south along the border with Malaysia. -- Dan S DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
