Howard: Airline a missile target

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday warned that Australia's national airline, Qantas, is a potential target for terrorists with heat-seeking ground-to-air missiles.

Howard told Australia's Channel 9 TV that all Western embassies in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and places where Westerners gather in Indonesia were also possible terrorist targets.

His comments came after a blast in Jakarta's Marriott Hotel on Tuesday, which killed 11 people and injured 145.

Howard said concerns in the United States and Britain about possible terrorist attacks on commercial airlines prompted Australian authorities to launch intelligence-sharing talks with London, focusing on Qantas flights in and out of London's Heathrow airport.

"That's one of the things we're constantly in touch with the British about," Howard said. He did not disclose further details about the concerns.

No one at the airline was available to comment. Qantas flies to Heathrow about 20 times a week.

The United States issued fresh predictions of more terrorist attacks in the Asia-Pacific region following the Marriott blast. Howard has not ruled out the possibility of attacks on Australian soil.

Authorities believe regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the blast. The group has also been blamed for last October's Bali bombs that killed 202 people.

Last November, suspected terrorists fired two surface-to-air missiles at a plane full of Israeli vacationers in Mombasa, Kenya. The missiles missed and no one was injured in the attack.

Howard also vowed yesterday to attend a service for the victims of the Bali bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, despite the Jakarta Marriot attack.

"It would send a very bad signal if the Australian prime minister didn't go," John Howard told Channel 9 TV. "It would take a very big change (in security)... to stop me going" to the one-year anniversary service for the people, including 88 Australians, killed in the October 12 blasts.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday Indonesia's foreign minister plans to visit Australia within weeks to discuss setting up a regional summit on terrorism.

Downer said he had been in contact with Hasan Wirayuda about a summit that would bring together ministers from around the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.