Foreign govts warn of terror risk at Philippine summit

CEBU, Philippines, Dec 7 (Reuters) The US and Australian governments warned today that militants could be planning to bomb a gathering of Asian leaders in the central Philippines next week.

The warnings come a day after the British embassy in Manila advised its citizens not to travel to the central island of Cebu because they believed terrorists were in the ''final stages of planning attacks''.

The heads of 10 Southeast Asian nations along with the leaders of China, Japan, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia will meet on Cebu on December 11-13 for a flurry of summits, dinners and closed door tete-a-tetes.

''We have information that there is a group that may be planning some terrorist attacks in line with the conference,'' a US embassy spokesman told Reuters.

The Philippines, which is hosting the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has played down the threat from militant groups despite battling long-running insurgencies by Muslim militias and communist rebels.

''There's no specific and direct threats in Cebu during the summit meetings,'' Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio, regional police chief, told Reuters, adding that the British advisory was ''just a warning''.

''That does not mean there was really an imminent attack,'' he said.

Local security officials have told Reuters they were checking reports that members of regional Muslim terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and local partner Abu Sayyaf were trying to get into Cebu.

''We've been getting regular reports of bomb threats in some big shopping malls,'' said one police officer. ''We can't really ignore these things, so we're checking the information quietly because we don't want people to panic.'' In March, police said an improvised bomb was discovered at a large shopping centre close to a convention centre being used for briefings for the ASEAN summit and a gathering of East Asian leaders.

The Philippines, which holds the rotating chair of ASEAN, has deployed 13,000 police officers and soldiers to patrol the luxury hotels and streets of Cebu and nearby Mactan Island to secure the gathering.

Two navy ships anchored off Cebu in a temporary blockade and road blocks were set up on routes leading to the Shangri-La Hotel, where most of the summit meetings will be held.

The Australian embassy advised citizens who have to go to Cebu for meetings associated with the summits to avoid crowded places such as places of worship, bars, hotels, malls, outdoor markets and transport points.

Counter-terrorism is set to take centre stage during the ASEAN summit with leaders hoping to sign a convention clamping down on the threat from Muslim militants such as JI, which seeks an Islamic ''super state'' across parts of the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.

REUTERS PDM KN1724