RI, Singapore warn of militant attacks

RI, Singapore warn of militant attacks

Achmad Sukarsono and Jason Szep, Reuters, Jakarta/Singapore

Militants are plotting more attacks in Southeast Asia and may be planning to kill officials involved in the war on terror in addition to hitting Western targets, top security officials said on Thursday.

Singapore warned that the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group, linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, was plotting new attacks in Southeast Asia and may be activating dormant agents or cells.

"Though some of the Jamaah Islamiyah leaders have been caught, younger ones have risen to take their place and sleepers' may have been roused to prepare for activation," Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said in a speech marking the city-state's Aug. 9 National Day.

In Jakarta, the head of the anti-terror coordinating board at the office of Indonesia's chief security minister, said dozens of arrests had depleted militant ranks but small cells were still training for attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Last month, Malaysia's police intelligence chief also said he believed JI leaders were regrouping and planning more attacks.

"The Jamaah Islamiyah has always been a threat and there are very clear indications they continue to be a threat," said Andrew Tan, an analyst at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore.

"The network is estimated to have as many as 3,000 people involved across the region, we have only caught 200 of them," he said.

Although officials say JI's links with al-Qaeda have been on the wane in recent years, the new warnings come amid a string of arrests of suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.

Those arrests have led to other suspects being apprehended in Britain and intelligence about plots to attack financial institutions in the United States.

Indonesia has been worst-hit hit by terror attacks in Southeast Asia, including the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta a year ago that killed 12 people, and nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202, many of them foreign tourists.

Police blame JI for the attacks and suspects have said in court they conducted the bombings because they hated the United States and its Western allies.

"Foreign diplomats have always been a target. What is new is not the foreign targeting but that they are now targeting domestic officials, like the prosecutor who dealt with terror cases in Palu," the Indonesian security official, Ansyaad Mbai, told Reuters.

Gunmen shot dead prosecutor Ferry Silalahi last May in his car in the Central Sulawesi city of Palu. The case has not been solved, but officials suspect links to Silalahi's work in cases linked to militants.

Mbai said although police had caught many militants involved in attacks, several key suspects were still at large, including the British-educated Malaysian engineer Azahari, believed to be JI's chief bombmaker. He is wanted for assembling the Bali and Marriott bombs.

Fellow Malaysian Noordin M. Top, believed to be involved in financing operations, is also on the run.

"They are still controlling small groups which are being trained and prepared to conduct attacks," Mbai told Reuters.

"We must never undervalue the threat of terrorism. It's impossible to predict where and when the terrorists will attack. Terror is about unpredictability," the police general said.

Wong, the Singaporean minister, said several JI members were at large "and are said to be planning the next attack".

He also named Azahari and Top, but mentioned two others -- Dulmatin, another Malaysian, and Indonesian Zulkarnaen.

Singapore boasts Southeast Asia's most advanced security apparatus but sees itself as a prime target after foiling plans by JI to attack Western targets in 2001.

The island-state, a major base for Western businesses in Asia and staunch U.S. ally, has detained 37 suspected Muslim militants since authorities foiled the 2001 plot.

In Indonesia, authorities have vowed to boost security ahead of the September 20 second-round presidential vote. Incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri and her former top security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, are battling for the country's top job.

Mbai said the election could provide opportunities for militants to attack.

"From a security point of view, that will be the biggest target and we must think that they would carry out something so we must anticipate this. Hopefully, nothing happens," he said.