Bali blast 'strategic failure' by terrorists

Bali blast 'strategic failure' by terrorists

Agencies, Singapore

International terrorists have suffered strategic losses by launching attacks on Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said here on Saturday at the Asia Security Conference.

Wolfowitz told the meeting of Asia Pacific defense ministers the struggle against terrorism would be a "long hard fight" as several groups remained dispersed worldwide, AFP reported.

But he said that last October's massive bomb attacks in Bali and the May 13 blasts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were a blow to the terrorists because they had galvanized these states to act more resolutely against the problem.

"While the terrorists may regard their attacks as a tactical success, I believe they were a strategic failure," Wolfowitz said.

The Bali blasts brought home the message in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the rest of Southeast Asia, to take tougher action against terrorism after initially being reluctant to confront the problem, he said.

"It is a strategic failure because it was a wake-up call for Indonesia. It has led to a much greater cooperation within Indonesia in counter-terrorism," he told reporters after his speech to the conference delegates.

The attacks also led to a recognition by the Indonesian people that "terrorists are targeting them and their country and their hopes for democracy and not just targeting the Americans and Australians".

Meanwhile, the Philippines said on the sidelines of the conference it was investigating reports of terrorist training camps in the south of the country but believes they are small "mobile bases" limited to teaching in the use of explosives.

The New York Times reported the southern Philippines had become the training center for the Jemaah Islamiah network, believed by many western governments to be affiliated to Osama bin Laden.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes told Reuters on the sidelines of that Indonesians arrested for bomb plots in Manila had admitted to having trained in the camps of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Asked if such training still exists, Reyes said: "We are trying to validate that, but we have made arrests in the past and so we are continuing to track them."

Reyes said that there were no longer any major MILF camps. He did not mention Jemaah Islamiah, which has been accused of various terror plots in Southeast Asia.

"There are no more camps. At best, there are mobile bases. I don't think they have any really sophisticated or prolonged training going on. At worst, what we would have would be training in the use of explosives," the minister said.

The MILF enclave is southern Mindanao island, home to about eight million Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Also at the conference, Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that reports communist North Korea may have reprocessed nuclear material were "extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable".

"I am afraid that further escalation of the situation by North Korea would require tougher measures," Ishiba said, without giving details.

In a speech to an Asian security conference sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Ishiba said a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis required dialog and pressure.

"The U.S. position that all options should be on the table is an understandable one," he said.

Japanese officials have repeatedly said Japan lacks the capability to defend itself from North Korea, which tested a ballistic missile over Japan in August 1998.