Southeast Asia may be hit again by major terror attack: Lee Kuan
Southeast Asia may be hit again by major terror attack: Lee Kuan Yew
Agence France-Presse Singapore
The insurgency in Iraq has given Southeast Asia a reprieve from large-scale terror attacks but the region must be ready for a another big strike, Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks published on Thursday.
Lee warned that Iraq is a good training ground for militants as they battle Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces and said they could still shift their attention to Southeast Asia, including Singapore, a staunch U.S. ally.
The former prime minister said one Singapore-based terrorism expert told him the insurgency in Iraq "made things better" for the region because militant groups have focused all their energies there.
"So they have no time for Southeast Asia because here's a chance, lots of Americans to be killed (in Iraq). Let's go there. And it's a good training ground," Lee said in remarks published in the Today newspaper, taken from a U.S. television interview.
The 81-year-old Lee, whose son Lee Hsien Loong became prime minister in August, said Southeast Asia remained on the radar screens of terror groups such as Osama bin Laden's Al-qaeda and its regional affiliate Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).
He warned that Singapore remains a possible target.
"Now what have I done in Singapore to offend him (Osama)?," said Lee, who remains in cabinet as a senior adviser with the title minister mentor.
"He and his affiliates were planning several huge car bombs with two tonnes of nitrates each -- each one of them twice the size of the Oklahoma City bomb," Lee said, referring to a foiled Jamaah Islamiyah plot to strike targets in Singapore in 2001.
The Jamaah Islamiyah has been blamed for three bombings in neighboring Indonesia which have left a total of 224 people dead in the past two years.
Lee said Singapore is being targeted because of its support for the U.S.-led war against terror. The city-state allows American aircraft and ships to use its facilities.
Singapore continues to detain several suspected militants involved in the alleged plots and has provided intelligence to its neighbors leading to the arrest of militant leaders.