January (Web-only) 2005

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"We have acquired intelligence that our relief groups in Indonesia and some other areas are becoming a possible target of terror attacks," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said. In response to the intelligence, South Korea sent out requests to countries where their relief workers are asking them to take security measures for South Koreans, according to the Associated Press.

An un-named ministry official said the government received no specific threat but "the warning was issued as a precaution because of the Christian-leaning of some relief organizations."

Radical Islamic groups have begun relief operations in Indonesia, on the island of Aceh. "The Laskar Mujahidin group, which campaigns for an Islamic state in Indonesia and is fiercely anti-American, established a camp close to hundreds of other local and international volunteers at the military airport in Banda Aceh, beneath a sign in English that reads 'Islamic Law Enforcement,'" writes the AP reporter Chris Brummitt.

"We are here to help our Muslim brothers," said Jundi, a member of Laskar Mujahidin. "As long as [foreign troops] are here to help, we will have no problem with them. There is no need for any friction."

Indonesia is home to the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for bombings across Southeast Asia. Jemaah Islamiyah expert Sidney Jones said Laskar Mujahidin was "raising concerns that the presence of U.S. and Australian troops in Aceh to help the humanitarian aid effort masks a hidden agenda" of Christian missions.

"We are very close friends with the military and they have been assisting our efforts to help the Acehnese people by bringing us on their airplanes. I expect we will be here for a very long time," said Hilmy Bakar Almascaty, ...