At least 3,125 volunteers from Indonesia are scheduled to leave here for Afghanistan this week as jihad (holy war) fighters, Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) Chairman Suaib Bidu said here Monday.
He said the volunteers will depart for Afghanistan in stages, and the first group will comprise about 500 volunteers.
However, Bidu refused to disclose the date of departure. But he said the volunteers are currently still training in a jihad training site in East Java province.
"We insisted to send volunteers from all Indonesia to Afghanistan," Bidu was quoted by the Satunet.com online news service as saying.
The organization also asked Americans here to leave for home, because the GPI cannot guarantee the security of the citizens.
U.S. embassy here has advised Americans throughout Indonesia to consider their personal security situation carefully, including whether to depart the country.
Some militant groups have recently threatened to conduct sweeping operations against U.S. nationals if the U.S. carried out its plan to attack Afghanistan.
(Xinhua News Agency 10/08/2001)
