Australian government says it is tracking local links to JI

4.00pm

CANBERRA - The Australian government said today it was closely tracking local links to the radical Jemaah Islamiah group but refused to comment on reports that a cell of the Southeast Asian network was found in a Sydney flat.

The Australian newspaper reported on Saturday that a flat in the beach suburb of Dee Why had recently served as a Sydney base for the group, blamed for last year's Bali bombings which killed over 200 people, including about 90 Australians.

Attorney-General Daryl Williams refused to confirm or deny the report, but stressed that authorities in Australia had been investigating the banned group for the past 18 months.

"Anybody who has any association with it will be likely to come to the attention of the security agencies," Williams told Australia's Channel Seven television network.

The Australian, quoting unnamed intelligence sources, said the discovery of the base and reports the group held a meeting of its four regional divisions in April signalled the radical network was regrouping and almost certainly planning new attacks.

A shadowy group seeking an Islamic "super state" in Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiah is believed linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network which the United States blames for the September 11, 2001, airliner attacks in New York and Washington.

Williams, asked about the group's presence in Australia, said the government never revealed details of security matters.

"All I can say is that the Jemaah Islamiah is the subject of a very intensive investigation," he said.

"JI - I think it is accepted - isn't dead and buried."

- REUTERS