Indonesia, Philippines on alert for Easter attacks by new Islamic
Indonesia, Philippines on alert for Easter attacks by new Islamic militants
Agence France-Presse Jakarta
Indonesia and the Philippines were on alert on Friday for Islamic militant attacks aimed to disrupt Christian celebrations of Easter while foreigners were warned over their safety.
Police in both countries said they were hunting for radicals connected to Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Abu Sayyaf, two leading Southeast Asian extremist outfits both believed to have ties to al-Qaeda, after a foiled bomb plot.
Meanwhile, Britain, Japan and the United States have all issued warnings advising their citizens to exercise caution in Indonesia and the Philippines or stay away amid a heightened risk of attack and kidnapping.
Military sources in Manila said some 10 Jamaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf militants were on the loose and could hit targets across the Philippines after authorities uncovered a plot to bomb "soft targets" in the capital over Easter.
Their warning came after the arrest of two extremists from both groups earlier this week and the seizure of 10 sacks of explosives.
One of the detainees, an alleged bomb maker believed to be Indonesian, whom police identified as Rohmat, told reporters after his arrest that the Abu Sayyaf were plotting major attacks in the southern cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro in addition to Manila.
Some 15,000 police officers were deployed across Manila to guard vital installations while personnel were on guard at churches around the predominantly Catholic country.
In the northern Philippine village of Cutud, where thousands of tourists converged to witness a bloody ritual of Christian penitents being nailed to the cross, police armed with assault rifles were patrolling the streets.
The British embassy in Manila has issued a warning that terrorists in the country were in the "final stages of planning an attack that could occur any time."
Citizens were advised against travel to central, southern and western Mindanao, and the Sulu archipelago where operations against separatist groups such as Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were continuing.
The U.S. also updated its advisory saying reprisals by the Abu Sayyaf group were possible, while Hong Kong's Security Bureau warned its residents to take extra care if traveling to the Philippines.
In Indonesia, where Easter is also a holiday although country is the world's largest Muslim-populated country, police said they were hunting up to 20 Indonesian graduates of a JI training camp in the Philippines believed to have returned home to carry out attacks.
JI has been blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people died, in addition to deadly attacks on a Jakarta hotel in 2003 and a blast outside the Australian embassy in September last year.
Indonesia's Security Affairs Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto said security and intelligence operations were being stepped up over Easter after a grenade attack this week in an area plagued by violence between Muslims and Christians.
At least 14 people were injured in the attack in Ambon, the capital of the eastern Maluku island chain where 5,000 people died in sectarian clashes before a 2002 peace pact and sporadic incidents have continued to claim lives.
"We are not going to take any chances," he said, according to the state Antara news agency.
The United States embassy in Jakarta on Friday issued a warning to its citizens in Indonesia that an ongoing risk of attacks in Indonesia was heightened over the Easter period.
"The targets of these attacks could include restaurants, shopping malls, schools, places of worship, or any other locations where westerners congregate," it said.
"Reports that Jamaah Islamiyah members were trained in kidnappings as well as bombings suggest attacks could include targeting individual American citizens."
Tokyo also urged Japanese visitors to Indonesia "to stay away from crowded places including shopping malls, discos, cafes and Western hotels and religious sites which could become targets of terrorism."