KL tightens security for OIC summit

KL tightens security for OIC summit

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur will deploy some 9,000 police and troops
to ensure security for the world's Islamic leaders attending a
summit here next week, an official said on Wednesday.

They have been specially trained "to face any form of threat"
during the summit of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), internal security deputy director Arthur
Edmonds told the Bernama news agency.

Terrorism is expected to be high on the agenda at the Oct. 16-
Oct. 18 summit, the first since relations between the Islamic
world and the West were shaken by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on
the United States.

A total of 30 heads of state have confirmed their attendance
at the summit, according to Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
Albar.

The remaining countries would be represented by their foreign
ministers at the talks in Malaysia's new government capital of
Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo will attend as observers, while the United Nations
will be represented by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. -- AFP