`War against terror in SE Asia far from over'

`War against terror in SE Asia far from over'

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

The war against terrorism in Southeast Asia is "far from over" despite the disruption of terrorist plots and the arrest of several suspects, U.S. President George W. Bush and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a joint statement.

In a joint statement issued after a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, the two leaders noted that enhanced cooperation among Southeast Asian nations and countries outside the region has led to the disruption of terror plots by members of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group.

It also led to the arrest of dozens of members of the Southeast Asia-based JI, including some who were linked to last year's bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali in which 202 people from 21 countries were killed.

Bush and Goh welcomed the progress in the investigations into the Bali attack, including the arrests of some of the suspects.

"However, the president and the prime minister agreed that the war against terrorism in Southeast Asia is far from over," said the statement, copies of which were issued in Singapore on Wednesday.

"The two leaders agreed to redouble their efforts to work with other leaders in the region and through multilateral organizations... to defeat terrorism," it said.

"They also reaffirmed their commitment to work with other states in Asia to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program," it said.

Singapore has detained 31 suspected JI members for various alleged plots to blow up U.S. and other foreign targets in the city-state, as well as water pipelines and the defense ministry complex.

Similar arrests have also been carried out by authorities in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.