Wan Min Wan Mat's testimony, via videolink from a Malaysian prison, was the strongest indication yet of a financial link between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, the regional terror group blamed for carrying out the bombings.

Wan Min was testifying at the trial of Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, an alleged senior operative of Jemaah Islamiyah. Ghufron is charged with carrying out the two nightclub bombings on Bali in October, 2002.

Wan Min, a prosecution witness who allegedly supplied weapons and arms training to Muslim militants in the Philippines, testified that earlier in 2002 he gave $35,500 in three installments to Ghufron, who was then in Thailand.

"It was for terror attacks in Indonesia," Wan Min said. "I don't know whether it was used for Bali."

"From my conversations with (Ghufron), I heard that that the money came from outside sources," Wan Min said. When asked by prosecutors what he meant by outside sources, Wan Min replied slowly but clearly: "Al-Qaeda."

Ghufron is one of four top suspects currently on trial for the bombings, the deadliest terrorist attack since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Wan Min was arrested in Malaysia in September and is being held for allegedly maintaining ties to terrorist groups.

His testimony was the clearest yet publicly naming al-Qaeda as a possible financier of terror attacks organized by Jemaah Islamiyah - which is said to be seeking to set up an Islamic superstate in Southeast Asia.