US eyes missile strike versus SEA terrorists

A controversial CIA-led missile strike which killed six suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen was "legal and necessary" and may be emulated in Southeast Asia to crush terror groups, a top US counter-terrorism official said yesterday.

"We will use whatever is necessary and legal to attack this (terrorist) threat, to interdict it and eliminate it," Francis Taylor, the US State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism, told a media briefing at the US Embassy in Manila.

Asked whether the covert and lethal Yemeni missile strike a week ago was necessary and legal, Taylor said: "Sure, the answer is yes."

"Both legal and the appropriate tool given the circumstances," said Taylor, who was in Manila to attend a counter-terrorism conference after visits to Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Six suspected al-Qaeda operatives were killed by a Hellfire missile launched from a remote-controlled CIA Predator aircraft as they rode in a vehicle 160 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, reports have said.

Among the dead men was reportedly a senior al-Qaeda leader suspected of masterminding the October 2000 attack on the US destroyer Cole, which was rammed by an explosives-laden boat that blew a hole in its hull and killed 17 US sailors.

US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had implicitly confirmed that the United States was behind the Yemeni missile strike.

While Wolfowitz called it a "very successful tactical operation," some groups have raised questions about the legality, effectiveness and ethics of using a tactic outwardly akin to assassination.

Assassination is banned by a US presidential executive order.

To another question, Taylor said the United States would keep its options open in launching a Yemeni-style strike against terror groups in Southeast Asia — regarded as the second front in the US-led coalition’s battle against terrorism after Afghanistan.

"For Yemen, perhaps that is a military operation and for the Philippines, it may be a law enforcement option," Taylor said.

"But all of those options are on the table, that are available to governments and regional coalitions to fight against the threat and find the right tool and right time to get the result we are looking for," he explained.

US President George W. Bush had asked the international coalition against terrorists to put "all kinds of power together" to take on the threat and "to use what is appropriate given the nature of the threat we face," Taylor said.

The Southeast Asian region hosts the Jemaah Islamiyah group suspected of a role in the October 12 Bali blast which killed nearly 200 people, as well as the Filipino Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group which has beheaded locals and foreigners among their victims.

The two groups have been linked to the al-Qaeda terror network led by Osama bin Laden.

A breakthrough in the Bali carnage probe was announced this week after an Indonesian mechanic reportedly admitted helping to build the Bali bomb and said it was meant to kill Americans.

Taylor dismissed suggestions by some groups that the CIA was behind the Bali carnage, saying "it is absolutely ludicrious to think that the United States government or any element of the United States government will be involved in such a crime against innocent people."

"These (the attackers) are terrorists, people who want to use political violence against innocent people to reach their political goals," he said.

The US State Department is the lead federal agency dealing with international terrorism and Taylor’s office has primary responsibilities for developing, coordinating and implementing US counter-terrorism policy, officials said. – AFP