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Islamic insurgents recruit Yemenites

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Islamic insurgency groups are recruiting in Yemen to be sent to fight Russian troops in Chechnya.

The recruitment comes as posters of Bin Laden urging Muslims to join a religious war against the West have appeared throughout Pakistan. "The youth should contact us as soon as possible," Bin Laden is quoted as saying in the poster. "Territorial boundaries have no importance in our eyes. All the land belongs to God. Our jihad will continue until America is expelled from Saudi Arabia and other countries of the world."

The Sanaa-based Yemen Times reports that students in the country have been asked to travel to Chechnya and join the insurgency against Moscow. The recruitment has taken place in universities and mosques and young Muslims have been offered travel and living expenses.

The newspaper said Islamic groups organized indoctrination seminars for students in the mountains of Yemen. The students were offered a monthly salary of $500 plus expenses, a sum more than ten times the average salary in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world.

More than 200 Yemenites have already been sent to Chechnya. Many of them were returned to Sanaa. Another 30 are now believed to be in Pakistani training camps in preparation for the Chechen campaign.

Yemenite sources said the Islamic groups are financed by Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. They said Bin Laden has also financed the recruitment and training of at least 200 British Muslims for the Chechen campaign.

The sources said mosques in Britain are used to indoctrinate and recruit the Muslims. The Itar-Tass news agency, quoted British sources, said training camps are located in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia."