U.S. says bomb threat during ASEAN summit

U.S. says bomb threat during ASEAN summit

Reuters, Bangkok

Anti-government groups in Communist Laos may be planning bomb attacks during a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in the capital, Vientiane, next month, the United States said.

The Lao government said on Friday it was not aware of any threat.

The State Department said in a travel advisory it had no details of potential targets or methods during the Nov. 25-30 annual meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

But it warned U.S. citizens to exercise "extreme caution" during the gathering of 10 Southeast Asian nations, plus China, South Korea, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

"The U.S. Embassy in Vientiane has received information that during the ASEAN summit conference, persons associated with anti- Lao government groups may be planning to detonate several explosive devices in Vientiane," the advisory said.

Its warning also covered the provinces of Bolikhamxai, Khammouan, Savannakhet, Salavan and Champassak.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalansy said Laos had no information about such threats and urged Washington to share its information.

"Instead of sharing their intelligence with us, they have made the warnings in the public. I don't understand why they have done this," Yong told Reuters from Vientiane.

"Although Laos is a very small country, it is one of the safest countries in the region," he said. "None of the advanced security teams from ASEAN told us of their security concern."

Unknown militants have sporadically attacked markets, bus stations and border checkpoints the past four years in Laos, which has been under Communist rule since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The State Department said at least 12 people were killed in armed attacks on buses and other vehicles between February 2003 and April 2004.

Two Swiss tourists were killed in an attack on a bus in February last year.

It also cited several clashes between government forces and "suspected anti-government insurgents" along the main route from Vientiane to the popular tourist town of Luang Prabang.

The Lao government has previously blamed bandits for the attacks, but analysts say they may be ethnic minority Hmong guerrillas, who once fought alongside the United States against Communist forces in Vietnam and Laos during the war.