January 22, 2002, AFP, Southeast Asia might be next terror haven: Philippine defense chief,

January 22, 2002, AFP, Southeast Asia might be next terror haven: Philippine defense chief,

Southeast Asia may be the next haven of international terrorists even as a US-led campaign targets Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, Philippines Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes revealed.

He cited the arrest here last week of an Indonesian believed to be an explosives expert of the Jemaah Islamiyah organisation, which police say is a "terror group" operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The arrest of Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi came after a tipoff from Singapore authorities and led to the arrest of three Filipino accomplices and the seizure of an explosives cache in the southern city of General Santos.

"So what does this say? I think the more we go into it, the more we will find out that this global threat of terrorism is real," Reyes said over local television.

Indonesia and Malaysia both have Muslim-majority populations, Reyes noted.

"We have a smaller (Muslim) population, but quite aggressive. We have the Abu Sayyaf group, which has demonstrated the capacity and the stomach to behead people, and be proud of it," Reyes said defending the deployment of US soldiers for joint training with Filipino troops.

Al-Ghozi also tipped off authorities to one of his apparent Filipino henchmen and contacts, Mohammad Kiram, 31, who was arrested Monday in the southern city of Marawi by police and army intelligence agents, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jose Mabanta told reporters.

He added al-Ghozi has "admitted participation in violent incidents in Mindanao and Metro Manila including the December 30 bombing" of an overhead railway coach that killed 22 people 13 months ago.

There are currently 42 US military advisers in southern Zamboanga city preparing logistics for the arrival of at least 600 troops to take part in exercises against the Abu Sayyaf, which is holding an US couple and a Filipina nurse hostage in Basilan island.

The US troops will not actively engage in combat, but will be allowed to the frontlines as observers, he said.

Military southern command spokesman Major Noel Detoyato said actual training exercises are to begin in the next two weeks.

US troops however will not be allowed to set up permanent bases, presidential adviser Eduardo Ermita said.

He was reacting to concerns expressed by leftwing groups that the joint operations with Filipino soldiers would be expanded into a campaign against communist guerillas.

The New People's Army (NPA), a 12,000-member Maoist guerrilla group in the Philippines, is part of Washington's global "terrorist blacklist."

"We would not allow the situation to spread out (of the main southern island of) Mindanao, much more letting it spread all over the Philippines," Ermita said.

He said the Philippine constitution barred foreign governments from setting up a permanent military bases or facilities in the country.

Ermita said joint training would "address the present crop of terrorists right there in Basilan."

He said he hoped the communist leadership would not use the US deployment as a pretext to pull out of peace talks with Manila suspended last year after the NPA assassinated two legislators.