Posted on 09/12/2001 10:12:34 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
Japan Intelligence on Hunt for U.S. Attackers-Source
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's intelligence authorities have joined forces with U.S. counterparts in trying to identify those responsible for attacks on the financial and political centers of the United States, a Japanese intelligence source said on Wednesday.
``We are now coordinating efforts with U.S. authorities to try to identify and hunt down the culprits,'' the source told Reuters, calling them ``terrorists.''
The source, who declined to be identified, added there were no visible signs so far of similar attacks in Japan.
``Still, we have to be fully vigilant.''
The source said Japanese intelligence officials were investigating whether there was any link between Tuesday's attacks and unconfirmed information that the U.S. embassy in Tokyo had received last week of a possible terrorist attack.
Last Friday, the U.S. embassy in Japan warned its citizens that it had received unconfirmed information of a possible attack against U.S. military facilities or places in Japan frequented by U.S. military personnel.
``We still believe that the threat came from a group of Islamic fundamentalists. But the specific group has yet to be identified,'' the source said.
There are about 48,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, according to the embassy. The Japanese Justice Ministry said about 40,000 civilians are registered as residents.
Washington declined to say whether the threat came specifically from Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, wanted by Washington for the 1998 attacks against two U.S. Embassies in Africa and in connection with the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers moved quickly to deny that bin Laden, whom they are sheltering, was capable of causing Tuesday's colossal terror assault on the United States. Thousands are reported to have died in the air attacks, which demolished New York's World Trade Center and destroyed parts of the Pentagon.
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and other officials of his hardline Islamic movement condemned the attacks as terrorist acts and said they were too complex to have been organized by bin Laden from Afghanistan.
Also, the GOJ, (like the U.S.) has had a rather open border policy recently, letting a number of laborers of Paki, Bangla, Iran and middle east origin in. Any extremist/fundamentalist organizers could be imbedded in these ranks.
The extreme eastern edge of Afghanistan looks like it borders on China...
Perhaps, but regardless it will be plenty. Yesterday the Nikkei was in freefall, losing about 5% of its value, to the lowest level in 17 years. I can't tell what happened today. I think they shut it down in the afternoon.
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