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| Southeast Asia |
| Hanbali had contacts throughout southern Thailand |
| 2004-01-24 |
| More terror attacks are likely in Southeast Asia ahead of elections in the region, Chulalongkorn University security expert Panithan Wattanayakorn warned on Thursday. The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are all set to hold national elections this year, while Thais are expected to go to the polls in February 2005. The academic said that Thailand could not avoid the issue of terrorism. âWhether or not the government wants to admit it, the terrorist support networks are already in Thailand,â he said. âThe Thaksin government has reformed many institutions in Thailand but not the security agencies: intelligence, police and army. There is an urgent need to improve all of them in the face of their daunting task.â Panithan said that Hambali, a kingpin of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah who was captured in Ayutthaya last August, had contacts in the south of Thailand and had discussed his terrorist plans with some Thais there. Hambali also gave them financial support, he said. He said that the use of car bombs, explosives in shipsâ cargoes and female suicide bombers would be increasingly common terrorist techniques. Moreover, many countries in Southeast Asia have expanded their military capabilities, which could be seen as a predictor of tension and conflict in the near future, he said. Speaking of the recent spate of violence in the South, Panithan said that although there was still no clear evidence if the assailants had any links with international terrorist networks, its scope was certainly beyond that of ordinary bandits. The sophistication of the operation in Narathiwat on January 4 entitled the perpetrators to receive a âfranchiseâ from terrorist groups, he said. It was the biggest-ever violent incident in the history of southern Thailand, he said. The hub of terrorist networks has now moved to Bangladesh, he added. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |