New al-Qaida camps may exist in Southeast Asia

MANILA, Philippines -- Terrorists may be looking at Southeast Asia as a site for training camps and bases after the devastation of their infrastructure in Afghanistan, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday.

There are several Muslim radical groups in the region that could serve as hosts, and recent reports have quoted U.S. officials as saying that some camps linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network may already exist in Indonesia.

The joint chiefs chairman, Gen. Richard Myers, would not comment specifically on Indonesia but said it was clear that al-Qaida, which U.S. officials say has a presence in at least 60 countries, needs new bases.

"We have seen links to other organizations in the region," Myers told a news conference in the Philippine capital. "We also know that the al-Qaida is looking for other places to train and plan operations. They can't do that inside Afghanistan anymore, so they've been disrupted there.

"I think we have to be very cautious and very vigilant on where that might be. It could be here, as well as other places in the Middle East."

Myers underscored the challenges of linking al-Qaida's members with its sources of cash and weapons because of the way the network is compartmentalized, but said officials should spare no effort because the terror group is trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

"That makes it a serious threat to all of us," said Myers, who is visiting the top three U.S. allies in Asia.

The United States has nearly 4,000 troops in the Philippines -- 1,000 in the south for a six-month training exercise aimed to help wipe out the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and 2,700 in the north for a three-week exercise to improve the Philippines' defense and ability to join in U.N. peacekeeping missions.