Bali verdict raises fears of new attacks

Bali verdict raises fears of new attacks

Agencies, Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur/Manila

Southeast Asia has gone on high alert after the deadly bombing in Jakarta, alarmed by warnings that a wave of new terrorist attacks could be planned to mark the first conviction in the Bali trials.

In Manila, Philippine authorities are taking steps to head off possible terrorist attacks on hotels and other commercial establishments similar to the deadly Jakarta bomb blast, officials said on Thursday.

"Terror does not knock before it strikes," President Gloria Arroyo said in a statement.

"Once more, I must stress that our best defense lies in the vigilance of each and every citizen."

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said Arroyo's security advisers met Thursday and concluded that "there is no specific threat, but we cannot take anything for granted because of the possibility there might be sympathetic strikes or copycat strikes."

Manila police conducted surprise bomb drills at government buildings on Thursday.

"The drills involved simulated exercises of terrorist hostage situations and bomb attacks on these facilities," national police spokesman Ricardo de Leon said in a statement.

"These exercises were designed to test the readiness of police units and other agencies in responding not only to terrorism- related incidents but also to other types of emergency situations," he added.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia said on Thursday Asian governments cannot defeat terrorism through military means but needs political courage to address the root causes of the scourge.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the government was on the alert and would increase surveillance after Tuesday's deadly car bomb blast outside the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta which killed at least 10 people.

But he warned terrorism would continue to haunt the region and the world unless the root causes were removed.

"For how long can we continue to take precautions? If we relax one day, it will occur again. As long as the root causes of terrorism are not addressed, then we will continue to face these problems," he told reporters.

Separately, his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Jakarta explosion showed terrorism was not a problem which could be wiped out easily.

"We can make life very difficult for terrorist elements. We can scatter them, we can cut off one head here and one tentacle there, but often the beast survives," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency when opening a three-day Asia-Pacific security conference here.

"It melts into the alleyways, the hills, the forests... but it mutates, then strikes again.

"This time it was Jakarta. Tomorrow or a month after or a year, it could be another place. No city, no island, no country is safe."

In Singapore, the interior minister warned on Thursday the country must remain on guard against the continued threat of a terrorist attack following the deadly car bomb explosion outside a luxury hotel in neighboring Indonesia.

While there is no specific information of any imminent attack on Singapore, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said "the incident in Jakarta tells us that we cannot afford to let our guard down.

Analysts said the strike against the U.S.-run JW Marriott Hotel, which left at least 10 dead, was proof that despite a security clampdown after October's Bali bombings the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network remained extremely dangerous.

"What Jakarta has done is announce very clearly and very brutally that they're not only alive, they're kicking," said Anthony Davis, regional correspondent for Jane's Intelligence Review.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said the verdict against Bali bomber Amrozi, who was found guilty and sentenced to death on Thursday, and Indonesia's national day on Aug. 17 could be triggers for new attacks.

Meanwhile, Thailand ordered its national agencies to tighten security and said soldiers and civilians would also be used in a bid to keep the kingdom safe.

"Violence is now higher particularly in our region and we could not care more. I have ordered every agency to be more strict on security," said deputy premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.

A Thai police intelligence source said there were grave fears the kingdom could be next in line for a JI attack in light of reports that one of its top leaders Hambali had been spending time in Bangkok.

"We believe Thailand is in danger, particularly in the next few months, because we found evidence to indicate that Hambali and his followers were here in Bangkok," he told AFP.

"We believe they stayed here for a reason. If they weren't planning to do something, they shouldn't stay here for so long," he said, adding police were continuing to try to track down Asia's most wanted man.

In Cambodia diplomats were tightlipped on what additional security precautions would be taken.

"We know they're here, as they are in most countries, and of course precautions are being taken, nobody thinks this is going away," said one Western diplomat.