Australia's foreign minister yesterday accused the Philippines and Spain of prompting a militant group's threat to bomb Australia unless it withdraws from Iraq, saying they had "empowered" terrorists by meeting their demands.
Alexander Downer told Channel Nine that the threat by a group calling itself the Islamic Tawhid Group, which claims to be an Al-Qaeda branch in Europe, was a direct result of Manila and Madrid's withdrawals from Iraq.
"It's very important we send a strong message that we will not be threatened by terrorist groups," Downer said. "You have to stand up to these people, because if you don't, you empower them."
The group posted the threat overnight, reports said, warning it would carry out car bombings in both Australia and Italy unless they pull out their troops.
Downer said he had never heard of the group, which made similar threats against Poland and Bulgaria last week, but insisted that the government would never give in to terrorist threats.
"This group Islamic Tawhid Group isn't a group we're familiar with but nevertheless it's a threat, it's on the Internet, we take it seriously," Downer said.
"What it does is it reminds us that we have to be absolutely determined in the face of the threats of terrorists to make sure we don't give in to those threats."
After the threats to Poland and Bulgaria, Poland's security agency ABW said last week it believed the group had links to suspected senior Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
Downer said Australia's main intelligence agency was investigating the credibility of both Islamic Tawhid and the website the threat was posted on.
Downer said the threat came from the Philippines' decision to withdraw from Iraq this month to secure the release of a hostage trucker and Spain's withdrawal after the Madrid train bombing in March that claimed nearly 200 lives.
"Unfortunately these actions have encouraged terrorists to continue these threats and now we are subjected to them, the Italians are, the Poles, the Bulgarians, by this particular group," he said.
The threat, posted on an Islamist website, claimed the group had the capacity to strike where and when it wanted.
Channel Nine quoted the group as saying that if Australian troops are not withdrawn from Iraq "we will shake the ground beneath your feet as we did in Indonesia, and columns of rigged cars will not stop."
The threat cited the October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, as an example of militants' ability to strike Australian interests, according to transcripts carried in the Australian media.
Australia has been one of the strongest supporters of the US-led Iraq war, contributing 2,000 troops to last year's invasion. About 850 Australian troops are still in and around Iraq.
The deployment has become a major issue in national elections expected to be held in October or November, with the opposition Labor Party pledging to bring the troops home by Christmas and the rightist government saying it will remain in Iraq "until the job is done."
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
RSS