Georgia says al-Qaida link was strong in gorge near Chechnya

[ChrisD(RJ)]

Georgia says al-Qaida link was strong in gorge near Chechnya 
Tue Jan 14, 1:21 PM ET		
TBILISI, Georgia - Georgian security officials said Tuesday that al-Qaida
money had been flowing into its lawless Pankisi Gorge until last year,
funding the construction of a hospital for wounded Islamic fighters and
providing training to Chechen terrorists. 
State Security Ministry spokesman Nika Laliashvili also said it was possible
that the suspects arrested last week in London on charges of producing the
poison ricin were trained in the gorge. 
Last year, the Pankisi Gorge, just over the border from Russia's war-ravaged
region of Chechnya became a focus of tension between Georgia and Russia,
which accused Georgian authorities of allowing Chechen rebels to shelter
there. Georgia denied the charges and refused to let Moscow conduct a
military operation in the gorge. 
However, Georgia did accept anti-terrorism training for its military from
the United States, which said fighters connected to al-Qaida were in the
gorge. The impoverished former Soviet republic then launched its own
security operation in Pankisi. 
Laliashvili said fighters "linked to and financed by al-Qaida" were in the
gorge almost until the beginning of the operation. He said an al-Qaida
hospital was being built in the gorge. 
"There were also training camps in the Pankisi Gorge, where specialists in
conducting terrorist attacks and diversions were taught," he said. 
Asked about reports that the men arrested in London were trained in Pankisi,
President Eduard Shevardnadze said Monday that some of the fighters in the
gorge were experts in poisonous substances. 
Laliashvili said the London connection could not be ruled out but that it
the British authorities had not sent the names of the suspects. 
Georgian officials initially denied that any Chechen or al-Qaida fighters
were in the Pankisi Gorge. They later said that about 800 militants — 700
Chechens and 100 Arabs — had been in the gorge but that most of them left
before the security operation was launched.