VARIOUS: TERRORIST CONCERNS FORCE AUSTRALIA AND CANADA TO CLOSE THEIR EMBASSIES IN MANILA/ SINGAPORE TIGHTENS SECURITY AT FOREIGN SCHOOLS AND CLUBS

Record ID: 645602

  • Title: VARIOUS: TERRORIST CONCERNS FORCE AUSTRALIA AND CANADA TO CLOSE THEIR EMBASSIES IN MANILA/ SINGAPORE TIGHTENS SECURITY AT FOREIGN SCHOOLS AND CLUBS
  • Date: 28th November 2002
  • Summary: (W3) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 28, 2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE AND SECURITY AT SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE (3 SHOTS) TILT: NEW SOUTH WALES FLAG FLYING SEEN THROUGH BRIDGE SV'S: POLICE PATROLLING BRIDGE (2 SHOTS) (W3) SINGAPORE (NOVEMBER 28, 2002) (REUTERS) SV: TERRORISM EXPERT, ROHAN GUNARATNA WALKING IN CORRIDOR SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROHAN GUNARATNA INTERVIEW SAYING: "Suicide terrorism has entered Southeast Asia. This is the first attempt of a suicide attack by Southeast Asian terrorists. We have seen suicide terrorist organisations conducted by Middle East groups and by South Asian groups before, but never have we seen an attempt by a Southeast Asian terrorist organisation. And this clearly demonstrates that suicide terrorism will be a phenomenon in this region. We will see suicide terrorist attacks conducted in this region in the coming years." MV: EXTERIOR OF AMERICAN CLUB CU: SECURITY AT AMERICAN CLUB PULL OUT: MORE OF AMERICAN CLUB SLV: EXTERIOR OF AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL VARIOUS OF SECURITY AT AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES/ SYDNEY AND CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA/ SINGAPORE
  • City:
  • Country: Singapore Philippines Australia
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA78DZ2UE320R1WLK4PLRVQ957
  • Story Text: Australia and Canada have closed their embassies in the Philippines due to credible threats of attacks, underscoring the potential spread of terror just six weeks after deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.
    Singapore has also tightened security at various foreign schools and clubs as analysts say the appearance of potential suicide bombers marks a new approach by extremist attackers in Southeast Asia.
    The alerts and closure on Thursday (November 28) appeared to be confined to the Philippines, which itself has been a target of attacks by militant Muslim groups. Western nations reported no embassy closures elsewhere in Asia.
    The United States (U.S.) embassy in Manila was closed for the American Thanksgiving holiday but would reopen on Friday (November 29), a spokeswoman said. The British and New Zealand missions were operating normally.
    At least 185 people, nearly half of them Australians, were killed in the October 12 attacks in Bali.
    The bombings have been blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant group linked to the al Qaeda network that is Washington's prime suspect in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
    Philippine officials have said local Muslim militants from groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) participated in training with Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda members.
    Jemaah Islamiah is also accused of funding bombings in Manila by MILF members that killed more than 20 people in December 2000.
    Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Canberra had received information from sources in the Philippines about a planned attack by Islamic extremists in the next few days.
    "Last night, I made the decision to close our embassy in Manila for at least a few days because of serious and credible intelligence reports that were passed to me personally, which shows that there was a very real risk of a terrorist attack against our embassy in Manila, " he said.
    He added staff at the embassy, which is housed on five floors of a commercial tower with other offices, had been temporarily relocated to a nearby hotel to continue their consular work.
    Australia advised its nationals to defer non-essential travel to the Philippines, a move also made by Canada as it shut its mission in Manila.
    Police stationed an extra 50 officers around embassies in Manila's busy commercial and diplomatic district of Makati, but senior officers said they were not aware of the exact nature of the threat to the Australian mission.
    Philippine officials said the Department of Foreign Affairs had been told to find more secure facilities for the Canadian and Australian missions.
    In Singapore, security has been tightened at the American Club - social club primarily for American expatriates living in Singapore - and the Australian International School as arrests by Malaysian police of a potential suicide squad is increasing concerns in the region of a new kind of terror threat.
    Singapore police have also taken measures, by closing roads at popular expatriate and tourist hangouts like Holland Village and Boat Quay.
    Malaysia police said on Tuesday (November 26) they had arrested four suspected members of a Muslim militant group, including members of a suicide squad who were part of a plot to bomb U.S. and other Western interests in Singapore last year.
    Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said the appearance of potential suicide bombers in Southeast Asia marks a new approach by extremist attackers in the region.
    "Suicide terrorism has entered Southeast Asia. This is the first attempt of a suicide attack by Southeast Asian terrorists. We have seen suicide terrorist organisations conducted by Middle East groups and by South Asian groups before, but never have we seen an attempt by a Southeast Asian terrorist organisation. And this clearly demonstrates that suicide terrorism will be a phenomenon in this region. We will see suicide terrorist attacks conducted in this region in the coming years," said Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror".
    Four suspected members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group blamed for last month's bombings in Bali, were caught by Malaysian police between November 16 and 20 in the southern Malaysian state of Johor - which borders Singapore.
    With suicide attacks generally carried out only by those in the most extreme of circumstances, suicide tactics have not been necessary in Southeast Asia where security has long been lax -- especially when compared with the Middle East or Europe.
    The four arrested this week -- three Malaysians and one Singaporean -- were part of a larger suicide team, Gunaratna added.
    The latest arrests take to 73 the suspected militants held in Malaysia under a tough internal security law imposed after the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.
    Despite a Muslim population of 240 million in Southeast Asia -- about a quarter of the world's total -- few were prepared to take part in the kinds of suicide attacks seen in the Middle East and South Asia, Gunaratna said.
    Sri Lankan Tamils perfected the practice, notably killing former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Imperial Japan's kamikaze pilots were another regional exception.
    The four arrested in Malaysia were believed to be part of a group directed by Hambali, a shadowy Indonesian preacher identified by Malaysia and Singapore as a Jemaah Islamiah ringleader and a key contact with bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
    In the past year, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore have arrested about 120 suspected members of the JI.
    Police say Jemaah Islamiah is intent on building a Muslim state spanning the southern Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and southern Thailand.
    The new threat was expected to fuel fears in Australia, which the government put on a heightened alert 10 days ago by issuing its most significant warning about a potential threat since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
    Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has mentioned Australia, a close U.S. ally, in recent messages, sparking unprecedented worries in a nation which previously deemed itself low risk, partly due to its geographical isolation.
    Australia has suffered only one recorded act of terrorism in its own territory, when a bomb exploded outside the Sydney Hilton during a Commonwealth summit in 1978, killing three people.
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