`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.