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New terror warning for Australia
By Grant Holloway
SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia has been warned that an al Qaeda terrorist cell may have been set up with a brief to attack targets inside the country. Al Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna says there is evidence al Qaeda's Southeast Asian arm -- Jemaah Islamiyah -- has a number of support cells operational in Australia. Speaking on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline program Wednesday evening, Gunaratna warned the Australian government may not being doing enough to detect the "two or three" al Qaeda operatives sent there. "The Australian government does not perceive there to be a significant threat to Australia at this moment and I believe that assessment is wrong," he said. Intelligence documents from Southeast Asian governments sighted by CNN talk about an al Qaeda-linked cell operating in West Papua and Australia. The cell is called Mantiqi 4 and was discovered by intelligence officials about three months ago. The warning also comes as a top Osama bin-Laden lieutenant issued an audio-taped threat on the Arabic TV network, al-Jazeera, that America and its allies would face new attacks from al Qaeda. On the audio tape, the speaker who is believed to be Ayman al-Zawahiri, says: "America and its deputies [allies] should know that their crimes will not go unpunished." (Latest tapes 'cause for concern') Australia is one of the United States staunchest international allies along with the United Kingdom and was one of the first to offer military assistance following the September 11 attacks. Australia subsequently sent around 1,500 troops to Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf to assist in the war on terror and is expected to commit military support to any U.S.-led action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. But the warnings have been downplayed by the Australian government. All possible steps
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday he had not received any evidence to suggest the risk his nation faced had got any greater in the past few months. "Australia is more at risk now than we were before September 11 last year, but so is just about every other country," Howard told radio listeners. "Nobody should imagine that this country is immune to potential terrorist attacks." Attorney-general Daryl Williams said Australia was taking "all possible steps to monitor the activities of anybody who may present a risk to the community". Williams said intelligence authorities were aware that people with possible Jemaah Islamiyah links visited Australia before last September and were investigating any possible regional links between the group and the country. "At present we know of no specific threat to Australia or Australian interests," he said. New lawsFollowing September 11, the Australian government introduced tough new laws aimed at curtailing terrorist activities and boosted budget spending on anti-terror measures. Gunaratna, who wrote the book Inside al Qaeda, said his information came from debriefings of a number of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. He said those discussion revealed two or three members of al Qaeda may already be in Australia, but he was unable to say what their targets might be. The Australian government says it would like more specific details on the al Qaeda threats. Last month, the government launched two new anti-terrorist units based in Sydney -- Australia's largest city and main business center. The new units comprise a 300-person Incident Response Regiment trained in dealing with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents and a second Tactical Assault Group (TAG) to handle direct terrorist threats such as sieges and hostage situations.
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