US, Australia raise level of terror alert

Washington and Canberra have expressed concern over new threats of terrorist attacks from Al Qaida and its Southeast Asian allies, the Jemaah Islamiyah, in the Philippines.

"We assess that other geographic locations could be venues for the next round of attacks. We expect Al Qaida will strive for new attacks designed to be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents.

"We cannot rule out Al Qaida will attempt a second catastrophic attack within the US," said the travel advisory of the US Embassy in Manila.

"We are monitoring the (same security) issues closely. We are concerned about their (JI members)‚ presence (in the Philippines)," said Ruth Pearce, the Australian ambassador to the Philippines.

Pearce said her government was constantly monitoring JI activities in the Philippines owing to military reports that the group has again conducted terrorist training for new members.

There are more than 200,000 American citizens and 12,000 Australians living in the Philippines. The US and Australia have become primary targets of terrorist attacks since their governments, along with the United Kingdom, attacked Iraq despite the lack of consent from the United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile, US marshals were reportedly fielded out of the country on US airlines, before the Christmas and New Year holidays.

At the same time, the US Homeland Security has reportedly assigned air marshals for every plane flying out of Pasay City's Ninoy Aquino International Airport starting December 24.

Northwest Airlines flies out of the NAIA three times a day bound for New York and Chicago; and Continental Airlines also has three daily flights to Guam, with connecting flights to the US mainland.

These airlines have been provided with a terrorists' watch list compiled by the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and posted in every departure counter.

In November this year, the US has provided the immigration booth at the international airport with computers that are directly linked to the US Embassy.