'Al-Qaeda will not be able to attack Thailand'

The Thai government believes that the Al-Qaeda terrorist group will not be able to carry out its planned attack on the United States Consulate in Chiangmai this month.

Deputy Prime Minister Charlem Yubamrung attributed the belief to the fact that the Thai authorities were on full alert and prepared to handle such a threat.

Furthermore, a numbers of terrorists had left the country upon learning of the authorities' state of preparedness, he told reporters here today.

"I was informed by Region 5 Police Chief Lt Gen Suthep Detraksa that a number of them have fled the country.

"Some of the terrorists are still in the country but we believe they won't be able to carry out their threat as the Thai authorities are now on full alert," he said.

Charlem said the attack may also have been targeted at the Cobra Gold military exercise in Chiangmai, although he had earlier refused to link it with the event.

At the time, Charlem said Thai authorities were informed by local sources "a long time ago" that an attack was being planned by two terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda and its close ally Algerian-based Salafist Group.

He had however refused to disclose the details as they were classified information.

The multi-nation military exercise hosted by Thailand and United States is being held in Chiangmai from yesterday to Feb 21.

It was started in 1980 as a bilateral US-Thai military exercise but now includes other countries such as Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as observers from 20 nations.