U.S. admiral warns Asian terror war far from over

U.S. admiral warns Asian terror war far from over

Agencies, Singapore

The commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific said on Tuesday international efforts would make Southeast Asia a barren place for terror but warned it was too early to claim victory over shadowy militant groups.

Admiral Dennis Blair also said Washington was looking for specific ways to work with Indonesia but would not reverse a policy restricting military cooperation until reforms of the Muslim giant's security forces were more advanced.

A new arena in the war on terror has opened in Asia with the recent arrests of dozens of suspected militants by Malaysia and Singapore and the arrival of U.S. troops in the Philippines.

The three nations have linked the detained men to al-Qaeda, the network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and pointed to connections with militant groups in Indonesia.

"The focus of our activities is to make sure that Asia is not the last bastion of al-Qaeda but to make it as inhospitable for terrorists to come here as possible," Blair told a news conference after receiving a military honor in Singapore.

Blair was commenting after being asked about a report by the respected Jane's Intelligence Review, that Southeast Asia could become the last bastion for al-Qaeda following its decimation by the U.S. in Afghanistan and other parts of the world.

Singapore, which backs the anti-terror campaign and the bombing of Afghanistan, generally has strong ties with Washington and hosts a U.S. logistics operation for visiting ships.

"No country is immune from this threat," Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan told the news conference, declining to comment on whether Singapore had made any more arrests since the December detentions of 13 people announced earlier this month.

Singapore remained vulnerable to a bomb attack even though authorities smashed a terror cell linked to the al-Qaeda network and foiled alleged attempts to attack American establishments, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Tuesday.

The Internal Security Department in December arrested 13 terror suspects belonging to the clandestine Jemaah Islamiah terror cell linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization but other members managed to flee the country, said Goh.

"They may regroup outside Singapore, to plan how they might continue their operations," Goh said in a dialog session with community leaders representing the island's ethnically diverse population.

Blair, in an earlier briefing with reporters, said aggressive steps by the Asian countries were a solid step as governments shared intelligence more fluidly since the U.S. attacks.

"I don't think any of us wants to overplay the threat but we don't want to think we are completely on top of it," said the Hawaii-based admiral, whose trip will also take in Malaysia's Sabah region, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.

"All of us recognize that none of us has a complete picture."

Meanwhile, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to increase the sharing of military intelligence to combat terrorism, Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said.

This reflected a strong political commitment by both countries toward curbing terror attacks, he told a joint news conference with his visiting Indonesian counterpart Matori Abdul Djalil on late Monday.

"There are some specific suggestions (on combating terrorism) but it does not necessitate public announcement," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Matori said efforts to combat terrorism effectively needed the cooperation of all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.

The exchange of military intelligence was necessary to ensure anticipatory steps could be taken against possible threats of terrorism.

"We welcome the efforts by both countries to cooperate and to undertake appropriate and suitable measures in combating international terrorism," he said.

Blair, who visited Indonesia recently, said his impressions of the world's largest Muslim nation and its key issues were still substantially correct.

"It has a big set of challenges and certainly has to be worried about whether international terrorism is one more group that might be working from Indonesia," he said.

U.S. officials accompanying Blair said he was well aware of Congressional limits on contacts with Indonesia's military after the army-led violence in East Timor, but saw the benefits of cultivating better ties at a critical time.

"We have a relationship with Indonesia and are certainly looking for opportunities to take specific action with Indonesia on actions to combat terrorism which would involve taking down terrorist groups," Blair said without elaborating.

"We could all be much more effective if we had a fuller relationship which we do hope would be available as the Indonesian armed forces make progress (with the reforms)."

Blair said he was not aware of reports from Jakarta that Washington had offered millions of dollars of help for Indonesia's anti-terror efforts but pointed to existing intelligence sharing and high-level military contacts at regional forums.

"There's certainly nothing on the scale of what we're working with in the Philippines planned for the near future," he said.

Blair said the six-month term of U.S. forces advising Philippine troops in their campaign against Moro separatists would be evaluated as the exercises continue.