Southeast Asia Braces for More Terror as Ramadan Looms
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
October 04, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - Indonesian police, helped by Australian experts, continued
investigations Tuesday into the weekend bombings in Bali, amid new warnings

of terror in Southeast Asia as the Muslim world enters the month of Ramadan.

Canberra warned in a new travel advisory of the possibility of further 
bombings on the Indonesian resort island, which has long been a popular 
destination for Australians and other Westerners.

Indonesian raised its security level to "top alert" and other regional
governments, including Thailand and the Philippines, also said they were 
beefing up security. Both Thailand and the Philippines have been battling 
Islamist insurgencies in their respective southern regions.

In the Philippines, national security advisor Norberto Gonzales warned 
that terrorists might launch attacks in Manila over Ramadan.

Ramadan, the Muslim fast-month, begins on Tuesday in the Arab world 
and on Wednesday further east. The month is for most Muslims a time 
of introspection and purification - while for extremists traditionally 
a time to intensify violence and jihad.

[...]

Abu Bakar Bashir, a cleric believed to be JI's spiritual inspiration,
was recently interviewed by terrorism analyst Scot Atran in jail,
where the Indonesian is serving a prison term for conspiring in the
2002 Bali attacks.

In the interview, which has been published by the Jamestown
Foundation, Bashir spoke of the global conflict continuing 
until Westerners were destroyed or bowed to Islam.

"If they refuse to be under Islam, it will be chaos. Full stop," he
said. "If they want to have peace, they have to accept to be governed
by Islam."

                                    -==-

Full article at Cybercast News Service
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Try=No&Page=\ForeignBureaus\
archive\200510\FOR20051004c.html


Cheers, Steve..

---