Malaysia rule out covert U.S. attacks

Malaysia rule out covert U.S. attacks

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia will not permit the United States to conduct airstrikes and covert attacks against any terrorists that would be found here, government leaders said.

"If you just launch airstrikes, it is not going to help in the fight against terrorism," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper on Monday. "We will not agree for our territory to be used that way."

Syed Hamid was commenting on a top U.S. counterterrorism official's suggestion that covert attacks such as the Central Intelligence Agency missile strike that killed a suspected al- Qaeda leader in Yemen last week could be used against terrorists in Southeast Asia.

Asked at a news conference in Manila, the Philippines, on Saturday whether such a strike could be made in Southeast Asia against suspected terrorists, U.S. Ambassador at Large Francis X. Taylor, Washington's coordinator for counterterrorism, suggested it was an option.

A Predator drone aircraft near Marib, Yemen, fired a missile Nov. 5 at a car carrying Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, al-Qaeda's chief operative in Yemen and a suspect in a number of terrorist strikes. U.S. officials have said they were working with Yemeni authorities.

Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said U.S. authorities "cannot use a Predator in this country without the government's consent."

"They are not invited here," Najib was quoted as saying by the Utusan Malaysia newspaper. "If such a thing happens, it will be considered a breach of this country's sovereignty."

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Malaysia was "not a country that wants to allow another country to carry out operations in our country."

"We know when to cooperate to fight terrorism ... but not to the extent of carrying out certain operations without our knowledge," Abdullah was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.

Since mid-2001, Malaysian authorities have arrested more than 70 suspected militants under a security law allowing indefinite detention without trial. Most are accused of belonging to Jamaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic extremist group suspected in the Oct. 12 bombings that killed nearly 200 people on Indonesia's Bali island.

Meanwhile, a Malaysian opposition leader accused the authorities on Monday of flouting the rule of law by re-arresting a suspected Islamic militant set free by court order.

Malaysian police returned Nasharuddin Nasir to his cell barely minutes after his release on Saturday after Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home minister, signed a new two-year detention order.

Opposition Democratic Action Party Chairman Lim Kit Siang, himself a former ISA detainee, said the rearrest flouted the law.

"The issue at stake is not whether one is for or against terrorism but whether one is for or against the rule of law -- as the war on terrorism must not be waged in utter and reckless disregard for the rule of law," he said in a statement.

Nasharuddin's temporary release followed a ruling by the High Court in Shah Alam near Kuala Lumpur, which quashed a detention order alleging involvement with Jamaah Islamiah, his lawyers said.

Authorities say Nasharuddin Nasir, among about 70 militant suspects Malaysia has arrested in the last 18 months, is a member of the Southeast Asian Islamic group Jamaah Islamiah, an organization said to have ties to the al-Qaeda network.

Nasharuddin, a 45-year-old trader, has been held since April under the Internal Security Act (ISA), a legacy of British colonial rule allowing indefinite detention without trial.