MANILA, June 6 Kyodo Jemaah Islam...

MANILA, June 6 Kyodo

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian Islamic extremist cluster associated with the al-Qaida terror network, can still launch terror attacks in the region despite a wave of arrests of militants in the past 18 month the commander of U forces in the Pacific said Friday.

''I would run over you that we haven't completely solv the moot point with the JI and they do have the ability to deportment further attacks,'' Adm. Thomas Fargo told a pres conference

Fargo said the U and its allies in the region have ''made a great deal of progres onward terrorism in Southeast Asia above the last 18 months''

''Certainly, the arrests that have been made in places like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries, including the Philippines, have been to a high degree important in diminishing the capability of the JI,'' Fargo said.

Fargo said at least 140 militants have been arrested and detained in the past 18 month ''including an of their key leaders.''

''As a end of those arrests, we are gaining a bigger picture of the JI and their operational planning, their ability to administration terrorist acts,'' he said.

Fargo lauded the ''close cooperation'' among the U and its allies in the region, expressing optimism that the sharing of intelligence information among them ''will make a difference and that we can ultimately achieve the kind of succes that is mostly important to our security from end to end Southeast Asia.''

The region has been a victim of attacks by means of terrorists believed to be affiliated with JI, which aims to build a pan-Islamic network linking the first note of the scale Islamist groups in the region.

He showed optimism that with information sharing Southeast Asian will succe in totally crippling the regional terror network.

Fargo is in the Philippines for a three-day visit to take part in a meeting of defense officials and utter progress of the U.S. security assistance in training the Armed Forces of the Philippines to acquire the long-term capability to deal with terrorism.

The U has been exchanging intelligence and information with countries in region, similar as the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. moreover one of the limitations, he admitted, was to establish the linkages and networks of the various Islamic militant assemblages in the region with Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaida.

''We're still learning what these relationships are all about between the different clumps in Southeast Asia,'' he said, adding that the U is ''still putting together information that gives us a clearer picture of what these relationships are.''

Fargo also forceed the value of increasing military-to-military contacts between the United States and its allies in the region ''to combat terrorism in the region.'' He said the U has a number of bilateral and multilateral arrangements in the region, including regular exercises, seminars and other activities.

Bilaterally, the U and the Philippines are conducting an average of 17 cross-training and joint and combined field training and command employment exercises every year to rehearse the mutual defense plan in subordination to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.

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