Thailand hunts US attack suspects

Thailand's border area is ideal terrain for hiding

By the BBC's Simon Ingram in Thailand

The hunt for those responsible for Tuesday's attacks in the United States is spreading far and wide.

In Thailand, amid a general tightening of security, police say they are on the lookout for 15 Arab nationals suspected by the American CIA of having been involved in planning the attacks.

Members of various Islamic militant groups are known to have frequented Thailand in the past.

Thailand's notoriously lax border controls have long made it a convenient haven for anyone wanting to keep beyond the reach of the law.

Bin Laden connection

According to local press reports recent visitors here have included associates of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden and members of other militant groups from the Middle East.

Thai border controls are notoriously lax

Now, in the wake of Tuesday's devastating attacks in the United States, there is concern that some of the individuals responsible could try to seek refuge on Thai soil.

US officials are reported to have given Thai police photographs and information regarding15 suspects, including Yemeni, Saudi and Palestinian nationals. The men are said to have been spotted visiting the World Trade Centre in New York prior to the attack there.

Difficult search

The reports say the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has placed the country's security agencies on alert for the possible presence of suspected foreign terrorists in the country.

But the hunt may prove difficult. Thailand's long land and sea borders, including that with mainly Muslim Malaysia, have thwarted similar crackdowns in the past.

Meanwhile anxiety about the longer-term fallout from events in the US is deepening. Local pundits say the economy is likely to be hurt by higher international oil prices and by possible damage to Thailand's lucrative tourism industry.