Singapore PM Says Terrorists Studying Maritime Targets
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08:59 DJ Singapore PM Says Terrorists Studying Maritime Targets
SINGAPORE (AP)--Terrorists are studying maritime targets in Southeast Asia and Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida-linked terror group, remains "highly dangerous,"
Singapore's prime minister said Friday.
"We know that terrorists have been studying maritime targets across the
region," Lee Hsien Loong said at the opening of a regional defense ministers'
conference. "The recent spate of violent pirate attacks in the Malacca Strait
shows up our vulnerabilities only too clearly, but a terrorist attack would be
of an altogether different magnitude."
He said Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a spate of bombings across Southeast
Asia, was "morphing into a loose web" of groups.
"While the JI may be weakened, it remains highly dangerous," he said.
The network is blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and
the Jakarta Marriott suicide bombing a year later which killed 11. It is also
blamed for last September's suicide attack on the Australian embassy in
Jakarta, which left 10 dead.
Two of its purported top leaders - Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin
Mohamed Top - were allegedly central figures in all three attacks and remain
fugitives in Indonesia. Lee said the reason the network was able to
reinvigorate itself is because its top leaders remain at large.
"It is also tapping into like-minded groups in Indonesia to provide manpower
and support for its terrorist activities," Lee said at a gathering of 500
delegates.
Washington and Singapore are concerned that militants could target the flow of
50,000 ships plying the Malacca Strait yearly or hijack a supertanker and use
it as a giant floating bomb. The strait lies between Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia and carries half the world's oil and a third of its commerce.
Singapore has said it is open to involvement by other countries, including the
U.S., in helping to secure the waterway, where pirate attacks occur. Malaysia
and Indonesia said they are able to handle their sectors with no outside
assistance.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-03-05 0859ET- - 08 59 AM EDT 06-03-05