SE Asia faces higher chemical-attack risk

SE Asia faces higher chemical-attack risk

MALAYSIA: Links between Southeast Asian terrorist groups and al-
Qaeda combined with a burgeoning chemical industry raise the risk
of a chemical attack in the region, a Japanese security official
said on Friday.

Southeast Asia has been on guard against terrorist attacks
since the 2002 Bali bombings that were blamed on the Jamaah
Islamiyah network, a shadowy group linked to Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda.

"We should not underestimate -- because in this region there
is a growing chemical industry," said Kazuhiro Nakai, director of
the biological and chemical weapon conventions division at
Japan's foreign affairs ministry.

"Second, we have a local terrorist network here," he said
after a security conference. "They are linked with international
terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda." -- Reuters