Police 'aware' smaller bomb attacks in horizon<\/p>\n
Jim Gomez, Associated Press\/Manila<\/p>\n
Indonesian police had evidence suggesting that militants may
\nresort to smaller suicide attacks rather than powerful truck
\nbombs before the deadly Oct. 1 Bali bombings, a U.S. terrorism
\nexpert said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jamaah Islamiyah, believed to be the al-Qaeda network's main
\nally in Southeast Asia, has been blamed for the attacks on three
\npacked restaurants on the Indonesian resort island that killed
\nthree bombers and 20 other people and wounded more than 100.<\/p>\n
In an anti-terror sweep from June to July, Indonesian police
\narrested 17 suspected militants and found in rebel safe houses
\nbomb materials similar to those used in the Oct. 1 attacks --
\nincluding TNT powder, detonating cords and ball bearings, Zachary
\nAbuza said in an assessment of the attacks sent to The Associated
\nPress.<\/p>\n
\"There were plenty of clues as early as June and July to
\nsuggest that JI was going to shift to smaller suicide bombers,
\nrather than truck bombs,\" said Abuza, a terrorism expert and
\nsenior fellow of the U.S. Institute of Peace.<\/p>\n
Bombings blamed on JI first struck Bali in 2002, killing 202
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Abuza said Indonesian authorities believed that militants
\nwould not hit Bali a second time, or other tourism hubs, but
\nwould focus on attacks targeting \"other pillars of the Indonesian
\neconomy,\" citing a report saying Indonesian police believed that
\nthe next target would be a Western mining concern.<\/p>\n
While Indonesian police have not disclosed any indication that
\nthe Oct. 1 Bali suicide bombers trained in the southern
\nPhilippines, Abuza raised concerns over reports of terror
\ntraining in the southern region of Mindanao.<\/p>\n
A terror cell suspected in the latest Bali attacks had sent
\nmembers to the southern Philippines for training, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The weak link in the war on terror in Southeast Asia
\ncontinues to be the Philippines,\" Abuza said.<\/p>\n
Philippine officials have rejected such criticism, saying
\nintense crackdowns have led to the arrests of several JI members,
\nprevented attacks, disrupted terror training and kept a small
\ngroup of Indonesian militants on the run in Mindanao.<\/p>\n
A confidential report in August from the Philippines' National
\nSecurity Council said JI training courses, which started in mid-
\n1998, have been disrupted by military offensives, but could be
\nresumed because of the presence of about 25 members of the group
\nin the southern Philippines.<\/p>\n
Philippine police official Rodolfo Mendoza, who has done
\nextensive research on terrorism, said the apparent shift in type
\nof attacks from remote-detonated bombs to suicide bombings may
\nhave been caused by a realignment of underground Islamic groups.<\/p>\n
Mendoza said some members of the cells blamed for the latest
\nBali attacks belonged to local insurgent groups in Indonesia and
\nseemed to be focusing on the use of suicide bombers.<\/p>\n
\"There should be a new audit of these groups, so we would know
\neach group's objective and mode of attacking,\" he said. \"If we
\nknow what they are and how they attack, we would have a better
\nidea of where they will next attack.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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