The Al Qaeda network transferred at least $25,000 last year to suspected terrorists in the southern Philippines to conduct operations and carry out bombings in the turbulent region, Philippine authorities said Thursday. The donation was initiated by two top Al Qaeda suspects now in U.S. custody — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and a cleric known as Hambali — and was carried by couriers through Malaysia and Thailand before reaching the Philippines, the officials said. The money was intended to finance the activities of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian terrorist network led mainly by Indonesians and responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that killed 202 people. About half the money was eventually transferred to a suspected Jemaah Islamiah bomber who uses the alias Marwan and remains at large. Philippine officials have warned of the possibility of a terrorist attack before Monday’s presidential election. Full Story
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