Plot to bomb embassies
November 29 2002
By Mark Forbes
Canberra
Islamic extremists plan to bomb the Australian, Canadian and other Western embassies in the Philippines within days, according to an intelligence report that has led to their immediate evacuation.
It is believed the American embassy is also a target of the plot, thought to originate from the radical Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The attacks are timed to coincide with the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ordered the closure of the Australian embassy in Manila after receiving the report late on Wednesday. The threat was credible, specific and originated from Islamic extremists linked to al Qaeda, he said.
The threat emerged as a leading strategic think tank accused the Federal Government of underestimating the likelihood of more attacks on Australians at home and abroad and lacking an integrated approach to terrorism.
An assessment in the wake of the Bali bombings by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute calls for a counter-terrorism commander to co-ordinate the national response to the new threat. It says Australia should be on a high alert, rather than medium alert.
Following the intelligence warnings, Australian agents are understood to have examined the Manila embassy, located in a high-rise building, and concluded it could not be secured against attack. The European Union embassy in the same building has also been closed.
Canada confirmed it shut its embassy due to a "specific and credible threat". The US embassy was closed for Thanksgiving and staff were unavailable for comment.
Mr Downer said there was a "very real risk of a terrorist attack against our embassy in Manila". The information was specific about time and place, and came from sources in the Philippines, he said.
"The intelligence doesn't tell me why they're targeting us. But . . . . these are people who are part of this network of Islamic extremist fundamentalist organisations," he said.
Mr Downer denied claims that the group responsible was the Abu Sayef guerrillas, saying: "I think it's another group in the Philippines but these groups are nevertheless linked to each other."
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is fighting for a separate Muslim state in the Mindanao region. It is linked to Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda, which have provided funding and whose members have attended the front's training camps.
Moro bomb-making experts were allegedly part of the JI plot to bomb the Australian High Commission and US embassy in Singapore this year. Moro was allegedly funded by JI to conduct bombings in the Philippines two years ago.
Philippines Consul-General Laureano Santiago said the closure of the embassies risked giving would-be terrorists a feeling they had succeeded. Mr Santiago said he did not dispute the Australian move, but the Philippines was as safe as any nation in the region.
He claimed the terror warning originated from national police. However, intelligence sources indicated the information originated from US or Australian spy networks.
Prime Minister John Howard said the warning was explicit and it would have been "recklessly negligent" not to act on it.
Australians are advised not to travel to the Philippines.
Earlier, ASPI executive director Hugh White said: "We now need to approach the task of responding to terrorism on the basis that further attacks on Australia or Australians are more likely than not."
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