MANILA, Nov. 29 Kyodo Philippine ...

MANILA, Nov. 29 Kyodo

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured Japanese and other foreign nationals Friday that Philippine authorities are ready to foil any terror attacks at Islamic extremists.

The assurance came a day after Canada and Australia clos their diplomatic missions after receiving ''explicit and credible'' reports of terrorist attacks according to al Qaida-linked groups.

''I can assure the Japanese and other foreigners that we are capable of dealing (with this threat),'' Arroyo told Japanese journalists during an interview.

''We have prepared our police forces, our military, our intelligence (agents),'' she said. ''We are doing our best and we are probably better prepared than many other countries in fighting terrorism because of our experience, our determination and our alliance with other countries in the fight against terrorism.''

She stressed: ''We don't just sit and wait for the terrorists to strike; we bring the war to them where they are because we want to be proactive.''

Notwithstanding Arroyo's assurance, Israel clos its diplomatic mission in Manila upon Friday in response to threats through Islamic militants.

''In fact, there are already policemen in our building. Police have been unfolded to secure the embassy,'' Vivian Vinarao, a spokesman for the embassy, told Kyodo News

Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Irit Ben-Abba called him ''to say they will shut up their embassy today because of a demonstration against their embassy towards the close of the ramadan period.''

''She said this is a yearly event...they will unclose and resume their operations in succession Monday,'' Ople said.

The closure of the diplomatic missions of Canada and Australia has irked command officials, saying the decision of as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but Canada and Australia to complete their embassies in Manila ''is a black judgment for the Philippines in the international community.''

Canada also issued a travel ban forward the Philippines, while Australia heightened its warning flat and urged its nationals to forego nonessential trips to the Philippines.

The Japanese embassy in Manila also provided ''spot information'' to all Japanese in the Philippines to ''be careful'' in the wake of the decisions of Canada and Australia.

Asked for her reactions forward the closure of the pair missions, Arroyo said, ''We would like to assure them that we will confident them so I room for expectation that they will open again soon''

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the Philippines has not monitored any planned Muslim extremist attacks forward any embassies in the geographical division He also took issue through the diplomats' failure to share their intelligence information with Philippine authorities.

''We disputed them of the credibility of their report. We have no report of any direct and specific threat against them or any other embassies,'' he said in a radio interview.

Still, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, ordered the police force to tighten security for all legates and their families in Manila.

''The police defense classification against terrorism is now being implemented,'' said PNP agent Director Edgar Aglipay after meeting with embassy security officers.

The Philippines is single in kind of five Southeast Asian countries where Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a collection linked to al-Qaida, seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state. The others are Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand.

''As it is, the possibility that international terrorists are operating and attacking targets in the region is true real, although the bulk of their network is still unknown,'' a classified military report has warned.

According to the report, near of the JI trained in camps of the Muslim secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation effrontery (MILF) based in the southern Philippines. JI small cavity members also studied in Pakistan and training camps in Afghanistan, the southern Philippines and Indonesia.

''They were taught for what cause to use firearms, guerrilla warfare and explosion techniques, as well as the manner of planning and executing assassinations,'' the report said, adding the JI members were also ''expos to the use of fairly sophisticated 'security tradecraft' wherein members operate by means of code-names and code-numbers.''

''They rely in succession e-mail for communications, usually using Web-based accounts. Moreover, they encrypt their diskettes and use prepaid mobile phone cards to avoid detection,'' the report said.

The document said JI is supported through Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida assemblage ''In fact, JI, received more [i]or[/i] less $140,000 from al-Qaida over three years,'' it said.

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