Date set for terrorism summit

Date set for terrorism summit

JAKARTA: Indonesia will host a regional ministerial conference on combating terrorism in February next year, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Tuesday.

The conference will be attended by foreign ministers, justice ministers, police and intelligence officers from Southeast Asian countries, China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union, Hassan said.

The minister said the conference would be held in the first week of February in the resort island of Bali, the scene of last October's deadly terror bombings which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.

It will be co-hosted by Australia, which lost 88 nationals in the bombings.

"This is part of an effort to strengthen anti-terror cooperation which will lead to practical measures in light of the recent events such as the Marriott bombing and the arrest of Hambali," Hassan said.

Those events have brought "a realization that the terrorist threat has yet to be overcome thoroughly and therefore regional cooperation is crucial," he said.

The car bombing at the US-franchised Marriott hotel in Jakarta on Aug. 5 killed 12 people and injured more than 140.

Officials said the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network, which is blamed for the Bali blasts, was behind the attack.

Hambali, JI's alleged operations leader, was arrested in Thailand on Aug. 11 and is now in US custody at an undisclosed location. --AFP