Article

2006-05-24 Southeast Asia

TERRORISTS linked to the group blamed for the Bali bombings are being trained in the use of chemical weapons that can cause widespread death and destruction.

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna has warned that the authorities have proof Jemaah Islamiah has been training its operatives in chemical warfare.
Dr Gunaratna said authorities had recovered a training manual from the home of a senior JI leader instructing terrorists on how to develop and launch an attack with the deadly chemical, hydrogen cyanide.

"The chemicals and biological agents discussed in the manual were similar to those that al-Qaeda had been experimenting with and producing in laboratories in Afghanistan," Dr Gunaratna said.

"Al-Qaeda has conducted experiments on dogs and rabbits exposing them to the fumes and forcing them to die harrowing deaths."

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty yesterday confirmed chemical warfare was an option that terrorist groups might consider, saying: "We do have to be prepared for biological and chemical attacks."

Speaking from Kuala Lumpur, where he was attending a meeting of regional police chiefs, Mr Keelty said groups such as JI had demonstrated their ability to quickly embrace new technology.
The AFP has been given $19.1million over five years to establish a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) data centre, which will be responsible for collating and co-ordinating the latest information on threats, strategies to combat them and sending the information to authorities in the region.

Mr Keelty yesterday signed an agreement with Malaysian police to work together to fight transnational crime, including terrorism. The AFP has already signed agreements with 10 other nations.

Mr Keelty said there was now an unprecedented level of co-operation between regional police agencies, which had put them in a much stronger position to fight terrorism.

Mr Keelty said yesterday one of the breakthroughs from this week's conference was the launch of a web-based criminal database linking member nations and the Interpol database. He said the database would allow authorities to track the movements of criminals and terrorists throughout the region.

Dr Gunaratna, also speaking from Kuala Lumpur yesterday where he was attending a cyber-terrorism conference, said the chemical weapons training manual had been seized during a raid on the home of JI leader Taufiq Rifqi in the southern Philippines.

The document has been analysed and translated by the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies. Dr Gunaratna said the manual was "rudimentary when compared to al-Qaeda manuals but it demonstrated a clear intent of JI to develop chemical and biological weapons".

He said the interest of global jihad groups to manufacture, develop and use chemical and biological weapons such as hydrogen cyanide was growing significantly. Hydrogen cyanide is a widely used industrial chemical which in high doses is extremely toxic, causing laboured breathing, headaches, dizziness, hyperventilation, convulsions, heart attack and death.

Dr Gunaratna said JI had also been involved in training in al-Qaeda's anthrax program in Afghanistan.

He said there had been past plans to move the anthrax laboratory from Afghanistan to Indonesia but the plans were thwarted by the "vigilance" of the Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian police and subsequent arrest in 2003 of JI operations chief Hambali.

Dr Gunaratna said jihadist groups around the world were keen to use chemical warfare and said governments should invest more in developing intelligence on these groups.

Posted by Oztralian 2006-05-24 19:07|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Obviously amateurs. Though civilians are the optimal target for chemical weapons, their choice of weapons is based on some TV show they saw once.

There are literally hundreds of untracked industrial chemicals of extraordinary toxicity that can easily be obtained via a corrupt toxic waste disposal company.

Many of these are regularly transported in bulk in tanker trucks over major highways through population centers without notice.

The rest is easy.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-05-24 19:22|| 2006-05-24 19:22|| Front Page Top

#2 Yes, amateurs. Hydrogen cyanide was effective when contained in the Nazi gas chambers (though Tehran denies it happened), but it has never been used as a field weapon (aside from possibly some Saddam experimentation), and for good reasons. I see and welcome a future full of terrorist work accidents.

"Al-Qaeda has conducted experiments on dogs and rabbits exposing them to the fumes and forcing them to die harrowing deaths."
If they knew where to look, they could find far more toxicity data than they could develop themselves, especially for the industrial chemicals. But I suspect that their experimentation has more to do with visually impressing their scientifically-ignorant jihadi masters than with actually obtaining useful data.

Posted by Darrell 2006-05-24 20:01|| 2006-05-24 20:01|| Front Page Top

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