By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMalaysia has denied claims that a slain terrorist had received funds from Malaysian sympathizers while coordinating bombings in Indonesia that killed more than 200 people, news reports said Thursday.
Azahari bin Husin - a Malaysian alleged to have been an explosives expert for al-Qaida-linked southeast Asian terror group Jema'ah Islamiyah, was shot by Indonesian police last week as he reached to detonate a suicide belt.
The Indonesian police have since launched a massive manhunt to capture his alleged accomplice Noordin Mohamad Top, a Malaysian.
A report in the Indonesia's "Media Indonesia" newspaper on Tuesday claimed that Azahari and Noordin received funds from sympathizers in Malaysia after the two fled to Indonesia in 2001, following a Malaysian crackdown against suspected Islamic gunmen.
Malaysia's Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar said his government had no evidence that Azahari and Noordin operated in Indonesia with money from Malaysia, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.