Fed: US says might still be terrorist threat to APEC

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Fed: US says might still be terrorist threat to APEC

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - The capture of alleged terror mastermind Hambali did not eliminatethe chance of a terrorist attack on an upcoming Asia-Pacific summit, United States deputySecretary of State Richard Armitage said today.

Thai authorities said Hambali, who was arrested last week, was plotting an attack onthe Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in October.

The summit in Thailand will bring together regional leaders, including US PresidentGeorge W Bush and Prime Minister John Howard.

Mr Armitage told the Nine network it would be foolish to assume Hambali's capture meantthere was no longer a threat to APEC.

"We have the top planner, we do not have all the members of al-Qaeda in our possessionor JI (Jemaah Islamiah) in this case, and I think the better assumption is that thesefellows are out to do us still and we ought to take every precaution against (them),"

he told the Nine network.

"Whether that meeting's threat has been alleviated I can't say, we know that thereare a certain number of terrorist plots that have been hatched and we've got to guardagainst them.

"And the capture of Hambali, while important, is not the end of terrorism in this region,unfortunately."

Mr Armitage said there was no bar to Australian authorities talking to Hambali, whowas being interrogated in a secret location, but he could not say if they would be alloweddirect access.

"Certainly we will share all information as we have been doing for the last severalyears, we will take any inquiries, questions that the Australian authorities may haveand put it to Hambali," he said.

"We've just captured this guy .... (we're) trying to get as much information as quicklyas possible so we can stop any threats that might be sort of in the planning process."

Hambali is suspected of being the planner of the Bali bombings and of having a rolein terror strikes from the September 11 atrocities in the US to last week's bombing ofthe JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

AAP kmh/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: HAMBALI ARMITAGE