Agencies

Copenhagen/Banda Aceh, Jan 17:

The Danish government today warned that it had received information that terrorists were planning to hit humanitarian organisations in the tsunami-hit Aceh province of Indonesia in the near future.

The Danish foreign ministry said in a statement that it had “received information that a terrorist attack was forthcoming against humanitarian organisations in the Aceh region.” The ministry called on aid workers and journalists to “exercise the greatest caution and try to stay safe” and “immediately inform other people in the region”.

The ministry did not say who it thought might be behind the potential attack. Aceh, devastated by the December 26 tsunamis, is the scene of a 30-year conflict between government forces and rebels.

Meanwhile, in Banda Aceh, Japan was laying the groundwork for its military’s biggest-ever overseas relief mission today after Indonesia said foreign troops could deliver aid to tsunami victims beyond a March 26 deadline.

The US military, meanwhile, said it plans to wind down its presence in Thailand and Sri Lanka over the next two weeks and focus on Indonesia’s Sumatra. The death toll climbed to more than 162,000 over the weekend after 5,000 more bodies were pulled out from the rubble in Sumatra.

No details of specific threat: UN official

BANDA ACEH: The top UN official in Aceh said he had no information of a specific threat to aid workers in Indonesia, despite the statement from Denmark warning of an “imminent terror attack.” “I have not received any information of a specific threat,” Joel Boutroue, head of the UN relief effort in Aceh, told The Associated Press.

Boutroue said he held an unrelated security meeting earlier in the day.

“It’s an environment where you have to move around cautiously,” he said, adding that the advice he continues to give to aid workers is to, “show great caution in their movement.” — AP