Asian Countries Warned About WMD Terrorism

The recent discovery in the Philippines of a terrorist manual on development of chemical and biological weapons means Asian governments must prepare for attacks using those agents, government representatives were told Monday (see GSN, July 1).

“There is a growing concern of the potential threat posed by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists,” said Zainal Abidin Zain, director general of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism, during a conference of chemical weapons experts in Malaysia.

Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, discussed the Jemaah Islamiyah manual behind closed doors, due to its “sensitive nature,” according to Agence France-Presse. He told AFP that the manual, “discovered recently in the Philippines,” describes assembly of chemical and biological weapons “in a rudimentary way.”

Gunaratna added that a Malaysian biochemist in detention in Malaysia had collaborated with al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah on an anthrax program (Hazlin Hassan, Agence France-Presse/IOL, July 5).

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