Posted on 03/31/2004 11:03:58 PM PST by FairOpinion
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Terrorists could be planning to attack Southeast Asia's busiest shipping lanes with a "crude nuclear device," Australia warned in a report obtained Tuesday. It also said al-Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah continues to thrive despite the arrest of 200 suspected members and appears to be pursuing terror training and links with groups from the Philippines to Pakistan.
"The overall picture ... is that Southeast Asia remains a front line in the fight against terrorism. More attacks that threaten the safety and security of regional communities are inevitable," said an Australian government report.
Australian officials distributed the report at an anti-terrorism conference in Manila focusing on transport security and organised by the Asean Regional Forum, Asia's largest security forum that also includes the United States, Britain and other Western nations. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press.
The report warned waterways could be targeted in an attack using "a crude nuclear explosive device or radiological bomb," noting that over a quarter of the world's trade and half of its oil passing through the Straits of Malacca and the Singapore Strait.
"There is clear evidence of al-Qaeda's interest in attacking economic assets as a means of undermining the global economy, including attacks against shipping," the report said.
It did not give details on the evidence.
Jemaah Islamiyah, which was blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202, is also shifting to tactics that could make attacks harder to predict, the report said.
"Despite the degradation it has suffered as an operational network, it retains an organisational structure, a determined approach to recruitment and training and a capacity to inflict further serious attacks in a number of regional countries," the report said.
The arrests, including last year's capture in Thailand of Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, and heightened security cooperation, have made it harder for Jemaah Islamiyah to stage large-scale attacks. Its decision-making has also been decentralised, making future attacks more varied, its scope wider and harder to predict, according to the report.
One indication that the group is determined to survive is its effort to link up with organizations beyond Southeast Asia, the report said, citing the discovery of a Jemaah Islamiyah unit, identified as the al-Ghuraba cell, in Karachi, Pakistan, last year.
The cell, composed of Malaysians, Indonesians and Singaporeans, was established to train future religious and military leaders, it added.
Another Pakistan-based terror group, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, has also been linked to the Karachi cell, the report said.
The Democrats attacks are doing serious damage, because they hamper our current efforts to fight terrorism.
They don't care if the world or even we get nuked, just so Bush gets blamed for it, and it would result in Dem powergrab.
What I want to know is what is President Bush going to do to "create" jobs? What is he going to do about the "healthcare crisis"? What is he going to do about the gasoline prices? We could have a nuke go off in this country and the Democrats and other lame brains in this country would still be the same morons that they are now. They will never get it unless it's their charred carcass that is dragged through the streets and then it's too late. We've got some big stuff that's going to happen in this country. It's inevitable. Yet the morons will still be the morons they were yesterday.
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