A security officer guards the public entrance to the Japanese embassy in Kuala Lumpur (AFP)

Additional Reporting By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (IslamOnline.net) – A number of mostly Southeast Asian embassies and airlines in Thailand and Malaysia received threats that unless their countries pull troops from Iraq they would be targeted, press reports said on Wednesday, April 28.

In the Thai capital of Bangkok, threat letters were sent to a number of embassies and airlines, one day after a threat to assassinate the Thai ambassador in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

The letters warned of attacks on major facilities in Australia, Japan, Kuwait, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand between Tuesday, April 20, and Friday, April 30.

The letters referred to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq as the motive for the potential attacks against the eight countries – all are U.S. allies and most of them have sent troops to Iraq.

After being notified of the letter, the South Korean embassy immediately requested increased security for its mission and the Korean community in Bangkok.

South Korea has had 600 military engineers and medics in Iraq since last May, and a reports said it plans to send another 3,000 troops by mid-June.

A diplomat at the Pakistani Embassy in Bangkok told Islamonline.net that the letter was sent by the Yellow-Red Overseas Organization, which is said to be linked to another little-known group calling itself the Pattani Liberation Front (PLF), supposedly based in Malaysia and Thailand.

In southern Thailand, a member of the Muslim pressure group in Pattani confirmed to IOL there were no groups called the PLF.

Abdul Rahman said the letters were likely sent by local residents since the majority of people in the country are against Thai participation in the U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq.

Thailand is currently deliberating whether to withdraw its 440-strong force from the occupied oil-rich Arab country due to the deteriorating security situation there.

Similar threats

The Japanese and Singaporean diplomatic missions in Malaysia have also received threats over their countries' decision to send troops to Iraq, a Malaysian police source said on Wednesday.

Other sources were also quoted by the local Star newspaper as saying the Japanese mission received a note saying: "We can do anything to the embassy if you do not pull out".

Japan, a close ally to the United States, has deployed 550 ground troops to Samawa, southern Iraq, for a non-combat mission.

Singapore says it plans deploying a tanker aircraft to the Gulf in May. Its troops who were deployed in Iraq returned earlier this month for routine rotation but replacements were never sent back.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Daley said American authorities had good reason to believe terror groups would target critical shipping routes such as the Malacca and Singapore straits.

"The letter said eight countries with alliances with the United States were being targeted," he was quoted by Reuters as telling a security conference in Singapore.

Tightened Measures

No attacks have occurred last week, but police in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have not kept their arms low in their lookout for possible terror threats on their soil.

Officials of other embassies and airlines in the Malaysian capital told IOL that they would tight security measures through they have not received similar threats.

Security around the Thai Embassy in the heavily-frequented Jalan Ampang district, where several embassies are also located, were tightened even during weekends.

Police patrol the area or even standing at the closed gates of the compound, as Thai and Malaysian authorities were taking the threat seriously.

Last month two embassies in Kuala Lumpur were attacked. A hand grenade was thrown on the Australian embassy, only to hit the gates before exploding on the road.

The Malaysian authorities have kept continued police surveillance of the British and U.S. embassies in Kuala Lumpur.