SE Asia forces on alert against terror attacks

SE Asia forces on alert against terror attacks

Paul Alexander, Associated Press/Manila

Security forces on alert for possible terrorist attacks in
Southeast Asia during the Christmas/New Year holidays are trying
to remain vigilant, although their focus has shifted to coping
with the tsunami that has devastated regional coastlines.

Dealing with the disaster aftermath across the region with
about a dozen countries affected by Sunday's earthquake and
resulting tsunami "divides attention," said senior Supt. Rodolfo
Mendoza, head of the Philippine National Police's anti-terrorism
office.

"We have a certain degree of vulnerability," he added,
suggesting terror groups might try to take advantage of the chaos
as attackers did recently in his country.

While the Philippines was spared the havoc that its neighbors
have suffered this week, it was still recovering from brutal
storms that killed over 1,000 people when a large timebomb was
found on a bus in Manila on Christmas Eve, just before it was set
to explode.

"These people don't care. The most important thing is that
they can wreak havoc on their targets," Mendoza said. "Terrorists
don't consider human suffering because they're actually aspiring
for this suffering to happen."

Still, terrorist or militant groups face the same limits on
their movements as anyone else because local infrastructure has
been destroyed, noted Bradley Allan, a security consultant.

"Even the militants, terrorists, have been caught off-guard,"
said Allan, a Hong Kong-based executive at the U.S. security
consulting company Pinkerton. "Their infrastructure is being as
damaged as everyone else's."

Allan said it's also unlikely that terrorists or militants
will attack U.S. or local government troops providing relief
because it hurts their public image.

"To survive, these insurgent, terrorist groups need a certain
amount of popular support," Allan said. "There's no way it could
be justified."

A Philippine National Police intelligence officer involved in
anti-terrorist operations disagreed, saying local terrorist
groups have a standing list of targets and often it's just a
matter of waiting for the right time to strike.

The disaster has added to the poverty and disillusionment that
can provide the breeding grounds for terrorist recruitment,
however.

Police in Indonesia -- which has been hardest hit by the
earthquake and tsunami -- had undertaken a massive security
operation at churches, malls and hotels amid warnings that
terrorists were planning holiday attacks in the world's most
populous Muslim nation.

Lt. Col. Triwuri Yani, a police spokeswoman in Jakarta,
dismissed any concerns about terrorism related to the quake. But
she said on Wednesday that authorities remained on alert.

"We hope there will be no more terrorist attacks with this
earthquake, but we have to be alert," Yani said. "We have to be
careful with everyone celebrating the holiday, but we have been
on increased alert since before Christmas."

The areas that were worst hit this week were generally not
hotbeds of terrorism.

Indonesia's badly hit Aceh province is home to a long, bloody
separatist movement, but the rebels have rebuffed overtures from
the regional al-Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Thailand has been suffering attacks by Muslim insurgents in
the country's deep south. Documents recently found at the house
of a fugitive Islamic insurgent leader indicated plans were
developing to spread attacks against tourist resorts in other
parts of the country, but disaster areas have had no reports to
indicate they are moving in now.

Security officials in Malaysia said they also remain on high
alert.

A security official said many foreign tourists remain at
Malaysian holiday resorts after the tsunami but there's adequate
security to protect them.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said
there's little chance JI could carry out an attack because the
movement has been badly crippled there by crackdowns on the group
and its affiliates.