'Foiled plot to bomb western targets'

'Foiled plot to bomb western targets'

SINGAPORE: A terrorist group accused of plotting an assault against the U.S. Embassy here last year planned to use foreign suicide bombers to blow up the building, officials said on Tuesday.

The alleged plan to attack the embassy and other western targets in this Southeast Asian city-state has been blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group which authorities say has links with al-Qaeda.

Last December, Singaporean authorities detained 15 members of Jemaah Islamiyah suspected of involvement in the plot, including eight men said to have been trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

Two detainees were subsequently released but the remaining suspects are being held under Singapore's tough Internal Security Act. --AP