`Asian nations must brace for retaliation from terrorists'

`Asian nations must brace for retaliation from terrorists'

Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse, Karambunai, Malaysia

Asia must brace itself for retaliatory terrorist attacks on "soft
targets" following the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, experts at a
security meeting here warned on Friday.

As the Iraq war entered its second day, experts at an ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) conference on counter-terrorism and
transnational crime called for the establishment of a common
security standard and deeper links to deny terrorists room to
operate.

The European Union's terrorism working group president,
Dionyssos Sourvanos, said governments worldwide, especially in
Asia, must keep a close watch on so-called soft targets such as
holiday resorts, supermarkets and areas with a big Western
presence.

"For the time being, the fear we have is that groups like the
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and the al-Qaeda would focus on soft
targets, rather than heavy blow attacks although in the long-run
or medium-term, we might expect something harder," he told
reporters.

"Everything depends on the situation on the ground in Iraq...
if the situation is very nasty, then we have to be careful also
of other targets."

He said the tough task now for Asian governments was to ensure
adequate security measures at their various tourist spots without
scaring away visitors.

Japan's international counter-terrorism deputy director
Kenichi Bessho, in a paper presented at the meeting, agreed
terrorists were "shifting their targets to vulnerable facilities"
and warned of the danger of weapons of mass destruction falling
into the hands of terrorists.

"The Asian region, the most dynamic and growing area, could
attract terrorists as a possible target," he said, adding that it
was "indispensable" for law-enforcement agencies in the region to
boost cooperation.

Canada's deputy director of terrorism Peter Bates said Osama
bin Laden's al-Qaeda network would exploit the war in Iraq to
justify its activities.

"We are concerned that we will see an increase in terrorist
activities," he said.

"Obviously groups like al-Qaeda are very well organized, well
financed and very dedicated to the mayhem that they are creating.
We are all vulnerable and what we need to do is to develop a
common standard of security worldwide."

Apart from the al-Qaeda-linked JI network, Australia's newly
appointed ambassador for counter-terrorism Nick Warner said
groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu
Sayyaf in the Philippines, as well as the Malaysian Militant
Group also posed threats.

In his paper, he said the ARF must put in place a solid
network of arrangements to close all gaps and "deprive terrorists
of the space in which to operate."

With porous borders and identity and document fraud a key
problem, Warner called for tighter controls on movement into and
through countries.

He also urged the region to increase law enforcement, redouble
efforts to cripple terrorist financing and improve intelligence
sharing.

Warner defended Australia's move to join the war, telling
reporters that the removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
would "lessen the threat of growing international terrorism."
Robert Pollard, the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in
Kuala Lumpur, called for more extensive information sharing and
other activities to "make sure we can keep terrorists on the
run."

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, he said, 68 countries had
detained 1,600 suspected al-Qaeda members. But more must be done
to ensure terrorists cannot exploit "gaps between nations," he
said.

Pollard is heading the delegation after Cofer Black, the
counter-terrorism head in the US state department, canceled his
trip here due to the war.

A total of 118 delegates from 19 countries are participating
in the two-day ARF talks focusing on border and document
security.