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To: lorne who wrote (17022)	9/8/2002 5:05:05 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

Security High Around World for Sept. 11 Anniversary Sun Sep 8,11:34 AM ET By Alistair Lyon, Middle East Diplomatic Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - The anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, already heralded by an attempt to assassinate the U.S.-backed Afghan president, has prompted heightened security in many parts of the world. Whilst "homeland security" in the United States will be extremely tight -- with, for example, fighter jets resuming 24-hour air patrols over Washington and New York -- much of the rest of the globe is also alert. In Kabul, the Turkish-led International Security Assistance Force said it had increased security measures after Thursday's bid to kill President Hamid Karzai in Kandahar and a car bomb that killed 16 people in the Afghan capital the same day. The attacks sparked fears of a wave of violence to mark this week's anniversary of the Sept. 11 suicide-hijacks which the United States blamed on Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network. Officials in neighboring Pakistan said President Pervez Musharraf's pro-Western government had beefed up security at what it had identified as potential targets. "We have taken all necessary steps to avert any such threat," Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, the head of the Interior Ministry's National Crisis Management Cell, told Reuters. The Pakistani anti-terrorism cell works closely with U.S. officials in tracking down fugitive Taliban or al Qaeda suspects who may have crossed into Pakistan or semi-autonomous tribal regions to escape pursuit by U.S.-led forces. Pakistani officials say hundreds of militants have been caught in the tribal areas. Others have been seized in the cities of Faisalabad and Lahore, including al Qaeda coordinator Abu Zubaydah, who was handed over to the United States in April. But many fugitives may have melted into the local population in Pakistan, where Islamic militants have staged several attacks on Christian and Western targets in the past year. U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases abroad have remained on high alert for the past year and officials said no extra measures were foreseen for the anniversary week. "We have been at Security Level 1 since Sept. 11 last year," said a spokeswoman at the U.S. embassy in Berlin. THREATS REPORTED IN PHILIPPINES In the Philippines, a top police official said security remained tight in key establishments in Manila, such as an oil depot near the presidential palace, Manila's international airport and the U.S. embassy. "There were reports of threats coming from local and international terrorists, but we are still in the process of verifying them," said the official, whose unit gathers information related to national security. A Philippine National Police spokesman said the entire force had been placed on higher alert and intelligence monitoring had been intensified. In Hong Kong, police have stepped up security around "potentially vulnerable targets" such as the airport and land border crossing points, police said. The U.S. consulate will stay open, but will fly the Stars and Stripes at half-mast in mourning, a spokeswoman said. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said bookings to the United States for this week had dropped and one of the two daily flights it operates from Hong Kong to Los Angeles had been canceled for Sept. 11 and the previous two days. In Saudi Arabia, birthplace of bin Laden and of 15 of the 19 hijackers who flew passenger jets into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon ( news - web sites) in Washington, an official said no extraordinary security measures were planned. But residents in the Saudi capital Riyadh said they had noticed more security in the diplomatic area. "There are checkpoints where cars are searched upon entry and they ask questions about the reason for entry to the area," one said. A Western executive in Riyadh said his company was taking no chances and many of its Western workers would not be obliged to work on Sept. 11. "One cannot be too cautious," he said. Italian officials, who were angered when the United States issued an Easter travel warning for four Italian cities, kept silent on security measures, as did their Dutch counterparts. BUSINESS AS USUAL A U.S. embassy spokesman in the Belgian capital Brussels said the mission would stay open. "It will be business as usual with staff coming in to work," he said. The NATO ( news - web sites) military alliance will hold a commemorative Sept. 11 ceremony at its Brussels headquarters, but a spokesman would only say that security would be "appropriate." A NATO source said the alliance was unaware of any specific threats, but was treating the day with "due sensitivity." British police advised major companies in London, Europe's biggest financial center, to tighten security ahead of the anniversary in case of copycat attacks. Police said they were talking to "a whole range of organizations" about security, although they had no specific intelligence pointing to an al Qaeda anniversary attack. Britain is considered a potential target because of the government's support of Washington's "war on terror" and because British cities are seen by some as havens for radical Islam. Just after Sept. 11, British police stepped up security in parts of London and put more than 1,000 extra officers on the streets. But a parliamentary report last month said Britain had failed to overhaul internal security and was poorly equipped to deal with an attack similar to that on the World Trade Center. story.news.yahoo.com