Terrorists 'to target shipping' (Australia)

THE next wave of terrorist attacks would be bombs planted on freight ships and detonated at ports such as Sydney or Melbourne, an international affairs expert predicted today.

Keith Suter, director of studies of the Australian branch of the International Law Association, also believes Australia's links with the United States made it a more obvious terrorist target. He said terrorist groups were learning from each other via the media and now realised surface transport, such as the train bomb attacks in Madrid, was an easier target than air transport.

"A lot of groups would realise that airline security has been tightened up considerably since September 11, you can't therefore go down the airline route therefore, if you're going to go for transport," he told Sky News Australia.

"You go for surface transport – the obvious ones would be trains, which is what we're seeing with the Chechnyan rebels.

"And also yet to come will be bombs planted on freight ships as they go into major ports, lower Manhattan or even in Sydney or Melbourne.

"What's happening is the groups learn from each other, not directly, there's no direct coordination, but they simply follow each other's doings in the media and then say that's one technique which we could take up or that technique is overused."

"It shows that you're part of that military alliance and as far as al-Qaeda is concerned, America is the great Satan ... and therefore is the major target and its satellites are also targets," he said.

But Australian Strategic Policy Institute program director Aldo Borgu said Australia was not an easy target because it did not have the large Islamic population terrorist groups relied upon for support.

"The fact remains, if a terrorist attack occurs against Australia it's always going to be more likely to originate overseas, and in that sense basically use overseas operative terrorists into this country," he said.

"As they find it's more difficult to operate in a particular area they'll go out and search for an easier way," he said.

"The fact is when you're dealing with these sort of dedicated people, ultimately they will always find a way through."

Mr Borgu feared Australia's medical services were ill equipped to deal with a large-scale terrorist attack because facilities were stretched after the Bali bombings.

"If we had that sort of situation in Australia, I'm not all that confident that we'd be able to deal with it well," he said.

Another related article -- mentions attacks on other ports, including the possibility of using nukes or dirty bombs:

"would use a crude nuclear explosive device or a radiological bomb "

"Most seaborne international trade is carried by at least 46,000 ships calling at more than 2,800 ports. There are more than 1.2 million seafarers and hundreds of thousands of port workers, the report said. " -- this shows the enormity of the task trying to defend against them.

Seaports vulnerable to terrorist attacks
March 15, 2004

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/mon/mar15w1.htm

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Major seaports in Asia, North America and Europe are stepping up security amid fears that ships might become terrorists' next killer carriers of choice after airplanes, truck bombs -- and now trains.
The author of a new report on the vulnerability of the global maritime industry said that the deadly train bombings in Madrid last week proved how far terrorists will go to achieve their targets.

"They show that despite an international crackdown on Al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, extremists retain the capacity to strike viciously," said Michael Richardson, a visiting senior research fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

"It was on land this time, but it could be in the air or from the sea next time," he told AFP, adding that "a major maritime terrorist attack could disrupt world shipping and trade as well as cause many deaths and casualties."

In a report to be published by ISEAS, Richardson said the recent exposure of a black market in nuclear technology involving Pakistan has heightened fears that terrorists could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

Al-Qaeda "aims to disrupt the seaborne trading system, the backbone of the modern global economy, and would use a crude nuclear explosive device or a radiological bomb to do so if it could get its hands on either and position it to go off in a port city, shipping strait or waterway that plays a key role in international trade."

The report pointed out that while about 80 per cent of international trade by volume is carried by sea, the maritime industry is "poorly regulated, frequently beyond the reach of the law and often secretive in its operations, especially in concealing the real owners of ships".

Most seaborne international trade is carried by at least 46,000 ships calling at more than 2,800 ports. There are more than 1.2 million seafarers and hundreds of thousands of port workers, the report said.

Al-Qaeda can infiltrate with relative ease the ranks of seafarers mostly coming from Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia. Qualification certificates are available for sale even to people with absolutely no skills to work on a ship.

The report said that Asia controls and operates more than 40 per cent of the global commercial fleet, and over a quarter of the world's trade and oil go through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

"The Asia-Pacific stake in maritime security is therefore huge," the report said.

Malaysia's Port Klang last week joined shipping hubs like Singapore, Rotterdam and Hong Kong in welcoming American inspectors who will screen US-bound cargo for deadly contraband under the Container Security Initiative.

Analyst Richardson said in his report that the "ultimate doomsday scenario" would be for a nuclear weapon smuggled in a container exploding in a port city that is also a key node in the global trading system and supply chain.

In Asia, he said these "mega port cities" include Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Yantian in China, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan, Pusan in South Korea and Laem Chabang in Thailand.

"There is no evidence that al-Qaeda or any terrorist group has nuclear weapons. But they have shown interest in acquiring them," the report said.

The second worst scenario is for a radiological or "dirty" bomb using conventional explosives laced with radioactive material to be set off in or near a major port city, causing fewer deaths than a nuclear bomb but serving as a "weapon of mass disruption and panic."

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