Al-Qaeda 'funded Bali bombing'

By Rachel Harvey BBC correspondent in Jakarta

A key witness at the trial of one of the suspects accused of the Bali bombings last October has said that Osama Bin Laden's organisation al-Qaeda may have helped fund the attack.

Wan Min Wan Mat, a Malaysian citizen currently being held in prison in Kuala Lumpur, was giving evidence in the trial of Mukhlas, who is accused of co-ordinating the Bali operation.

Wan Min Wan Wat gave evidence via video link from Malaysia

Mr Wan Min addressed the Bali courtroom by video-link from Malaysia where he was arrested last September.

Responding to questions from the presiding judge, he confirmed that he had given a total of $35,500 to Mukhlas in three separate instalments.

Mr Wan Min said he did not known what the money was for, but he had been told that some of it came from al-Qaeda.

"Did the money come from Osama Bin Laden?" asked the judge.

"I don't know," came the reply.

He described Mukhlas, who is also known as Ali Ghufron, as the "mantiki" or senior operational commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic militant group blamed for a string of attacks across south-east Asia.

Intelligence experts have long suspected a connection between Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda, but it has always been difficult to prove.

If true, Mr Wan Min's testimony is perhaps the clearest sign yet that the link does exist.