Terrorists may attack U.S., Asian allies, say experts

Terrorists may attack U.S., Asian allies, say experts

Sean Yoong, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups such as Jamaah Islamiyah could
try to launch biological or chemical attacks against U.S. allies
and secular Muslim governments in Asia using widely available
materials, security experts warned on Monday.

Jamaah Islamiyah is believed to be exploiting anti-Western
sentiment over the situation in Iraq to recruit new members and
raise funds that could be used obtain or develop such weapons,
top Japanese security official Shinsuke Shimizu told a conference
on terrorism in Kuala Lumpur.

"There are several warning signs" that terrorists could be
planning biological or chemical attacks in Asia, said Shimizu,
the director for international counterterrorism cooperation at
Japan's Foreign Ministry. "The most realistic threat comes from
al-Qaeda and its associate groups."

Warning signs include the discovery last October of manuals on
bioterrorism at a Jamaah Islamiyah hideout in the southern
Philippines, and the arrest in June 2003 of a man who tried to
sell cesium 137 - a radioactive material used in industry that
could be used to make so-called "dirty bombs."

Zainal Abidin Zain, the director-general of the U.S.-backed
Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism, said
terrorists may try to adapt chemicals that are widely available
commercially for use in weapons.

"Deadly chemical agents, including various insecticides,
industrial chemicals and potent toxins are relatively easy to
produce or acquire," he said. Also, "It is possible to harvest
deadly pathogens from nature with unsophisticated equipment and
limited expertise.

"The probability of chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear terrorist attacks cannot be overlooked," said Zain.

Jamaah Islamiyah shares a common ideology with al-Qaeda -
based on a hatred of Western influence and a strict version of
Islam - making U.S. allies such as Japan and secular Muslim
governments such as Indonesia's and Malaysia's the likely targets
of attacks, Shimizu said.

The Southeast Asia-based group is blamed for a series of
bombings in recent years, including the 2002 nightclub attacks in
Indonesia's Bali island that killed 202 people, mostly Western
tourists.

At least two Jamaah Islamiyah members played a key role in a
fledgling al-Qaeda chemical weapons program in Afghanistan before
invading U.S.-led forces shut it down in 2002, officials say.

Japan and Malaysia are co-hosting the five-day conference,
which gathers about 50 officials from Southeast Asia, China and
South Korea, who have responsibility for control of chemicals,
counterterrorism, health and national security.

Trainers from the United States and Canada are taking part,
and the Hague-based watchdog group Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is also attending.