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Friday, November 29, 2002
Terror threats force closure of 3 embassies
MANILA -- President Arroyo's government is concerned over the closure by Australia, Canada, and the European Union of their embassies in the country Thursday in response to specific terrorist threats by Islamic extremists.
The US embassy along Roxas Boulevard was also closed on Thursday not because of any terrorist threat but because its officers and staff were celebrating Thanksgiving Day.
A spokesman said the embassy would reopen on Friday.
Armed police secured the Australian embassy and the EU office, both occupants of an office tower in the Makati financial district of Manila, as well as the Canadian embassy three blocks away.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said President Arroyo expressed concern over the situation of the embassies and understood their decision to close down.
Police SWAT teams armed with assault rifles patrolled the streets of Makati, as Manila police chief Reynaldo Velasco said he had ordered tighter security at all foreign embassies in the city.
Bunye clarified though that the closure of at least three embassies does not mean the pullout of the presence of the countries from the Philippines.
"What is being closed are their offices and they are just going to transfer to more secure areas," he pointed out.
Western diplomatic missions across Southeast Asia have sporadically shut their doors since a wave of threats linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and its regional allies around the September 11 anniversary.
Fears of new attacks have intensified since the October 12 Bali bombing, and a spate of bomb blasts in Mindanao and Manila last month that left 23 people dead.
Police said Thursday they saw five foreign-looking men taking photographs and video footage of the Australian embassy last Friday who ran away when accosted.
"There is a specific and credible threat towards the mission and a decision was taken to close the embassy," Australian embassy defense attaché Captain Greg Sutton told reporters.
He declined to discuss the nature and source of the threat.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the threat came from "Islamic extremists, fundamentalist people."
He said his ministry also renewed a standing advisory for Australians to avoid non-essential travel anywhere in the Philippines.
"They are targeting specific nationalities, they're not just targeting Westerners," Downer said. "The threat is rather specific, that is the threat is against the embassy itself, the building itself."
Canadian embassy counselor Heather Forton said the embassy had received a specific threat, while the Canadian government website carried an advisory urging Canadians to avoid the Philippines.
But Philippine officials moved to play down the threat.
"We have no specific threat directed against any embassy, and I think Australia in particular is reacting to what happened in Bali," said National Security Adviser Roilo Golez.
Australian consular personnel are set to work from a Manila hotel during the embassy's indefinite closure.
A foreign diplomat, asking to remain anonymous, said the EU delegation office was closed because it was in the same building as the Australian embassy.
Southeast Asia has a growing and unwanted reputation as a frontline in the war against terror, with much focus on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Islamic militant network, which has been linked to al-Qaeda.
Western intelligence agencies say JI -- which wants to set up an Islamic state across Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines -- has set up cells across the region.
JI has been blamed for the October 12 Bali terrorist attack, which killed more than 190 people, and dozens of people accused of being JI members have been detained in Malaysia and Singapore.
The latest threat comes a day after Malaysia said it had arrested four members of a JI suicide bombing squad who planned to attack the US embassy in Singapore.
Earlier this month Arroyo's government said its arrest of a Filipino Muslim militant foiled planned attacks on government installations, foreign embassies and shopping malls in Manila.
wo Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah militants were also jailed earlier this year on explosives charges.
The Arroyo government has been a key supporter of the US-led campaign against al-Qaeda and its allies.
The government this week outlawed imports of the agricultural chemical ammonium nitrate, which it suspects is being stockpiled by terrorists for bomb making. The same chemical was believed used in the Bali attacks. AFP/With Joshua Dancel |
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