SYDNEY, Australia (23 June 2005) -- Australia warned its citizens against traveling to Malaysia, citing planned kidnappings by terrorists at holiday resorts. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it received credible reports terrorists plan kidnapping attacks targeted at resorts frequented by foreigners in Malaysia. ''Australians are advised to avoid all travel to coastal resorts, islands and dive sites off the east coast of Sabah'' state, it said in a statement published yesterday on its Web site. ''The risks of terrorist attacks against Western interests in Malaysia remains.'' The warning comes a month after the U.S. State Department warned its citizens of kidnapping risks in Sabah, an island of Borneo between Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur and the southern Philippines, which it said has extensive open waters between the mainland and its offshore islands for kidnappers and pirates to operate in. The Abu Sayyaf group, based in the southern Philippines, has been responsible for kidnappings from coastal resorts, including six Indonesians and Filipinos taken in October 2003. | | Tourists who died in Bali in 2002 ignored warnings that Muslim terrorists in Indonesia were planning to attack tourists. Australians intending to travel overland from Malaysia to Thailand should also be aware of the travel advice for Thailand which recommends travelers defer nonessential travel to the far southern Thai provinces, the Australian department said. SOURCE - CNS |
