The radical Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia group denied on Monday it had planned to bomb US and Israeli ships in Singapore five years ago.
The group called the charges, reportedly from Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) and published in Singapore media at the weekend, both ”absurd” and ”without foundation.”
It said in a statement the allegations were part of an
”organised campaign of lies by the US intelligence services with the cooperation of international intelligence services in their campaign against Hezbollah, which they accuse of terrorism.”
The ISD was quoted by Singapore’s Sunday Times as saying five Singaporeans were recruited by the Middle Eastern group for special classes in Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor.
The five men were asked to take pictures of the US and Israeli embassies but they refused and subsequently left the group, it said.
But Hezbollah members continued to carry out surveillance of the Singapore coastline in 1995 to plan their attacks, the paper said.
Last year, Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong also said a Middle Eastern group had tried to recruit five Singaporeans, but the identity of the group was not known until the ISD reportedly revealed it over the weekend.
The ISD in December arrested 13 suspected Islamic militants with alleged links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
They allegedly plotted to bomb US targets in the city state, including a busload of US sailors and the US embassy. – Sapa-AFP