Aussie link to embassy blast

One of Southeast Asia's most wanted Islamic militants used Australian dollars to fund the deadly bombing of Canberra's embassy in the Indonesian capital last year, a witness told a court yesterday.

Ahmad Hasan, a witness in the trial of one of the key suspects and himself a defendant, said Malaysian fugitive Noordin M Top had given him A$9700 ($10,630) for the bombing.

Hasan said another Malaysian, Azahari, accused by police of masterminding the blast that killed 10 people on September 9, ordered him and the defendant on trial, identified as Rois, to scout the embassy site and drive the explosives-laden van into Jakarta.