Arms at the Ready

On March 9, Malaysian security forces arrested five armed Thai Muslim militants at Kuala Lumpur's Sentral Station, sparking concerns that the insurgency in southern Thailand was threatening to spill over into neighboring Malaysia, potentially including terror attacks in Malaysian cities. But TIME has now learned that the men were in the country to collect a cache of arms hidden by Jemaah Islamiah (J.I.), the al-Qaeda-linked militant network widely blamed for the Oct. 2002 Bali bombings. The connection raises its own set of concerns. In particular, analysts say, ties between Thailand and a wider Muslim militancy might signal a new escalation of...