By Kazi Mahmood, IOL South Asia Correspondent

JOHARE BAHARU, October 26 (IslamOnline) - Thailand on Saturday declared it was taking extra steps to prevent a surge in terror attacks in its Southern provinces after officials said that alleged Muslim “separatist groups” were suspected of planning such attacks during the month of Ramadan, news agencies said on Saturday, October 26.

Officials in the region said they would not want a repeat of the Bali bombing and urged the intelligentsia of the different countries to be ahead with the last information now that the Jemaah Islamiyah has been declared a terror organization by the United Nations (UN).

“Even Australia is gearing to arrest JI members in the country and to freeze any suspected assets of the banned and underground organization that had its base in Singapore,” an official told IslamOnline.

Indonesia has already officially declared on Friday that all discotheques and night clubs will be closed during the night in the month of Ramadan, which means virtual closure for 30 days since bars and clubs are not necessarily opened during day time, the official working in the local government in Johore state said.

Singapore and Malaysia have already taken extreme measures though authorities in these countries said they feared terror incidents could occur on their soil.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last week said Malaysia was not immune to terror attacks but said his country had taken relevant steps to prevent such attacks.

Thailand is taking strong steps to prevent a bloody month that would lead to the biggest Muslim festival in December 2002, officials said as reported by Singapore newspapers on Saturday.

An official of the Thai police in the south said three terror groups were suspected to be involved in future attacks in the largely Muslim populated provinces alongside the border with Malaysia.

The official said more than 2000 police officers and 400 special branch officers in the south were asked not to take leave for one month leading to the Muslim festival of Eid El Fitr, fearing terror attacks by separatist groups.

One of the groups, the official said, is a splinter of the Pattani United Liberation Front (PULO). The PULO denies that it is involved in any terrorist activities, saying that it is a group fighting to uphold the rights of the Malay-Muslim of Thai origin and for the independence of the Pattani region.

Police in Thailand also said the terror cells in the south of the country consisted of at least 200 to 300 members overall and that it was working towards a possible crack down on these cells before they strike.

In Singapore, the authorities are still looking for members of JI and will soon announce the seizure of assets and accounts that it suspect belongs to the group or its members.

It arrested 31 members of the group since December last year and said several of key leaders of the group has fled to Indonesia, where they were planning further attacks against the tiny Island nation, sources said.

In Jakarta, pressure continues to mount on President Megawati Sukarnoputri with Muslim leaders calling for fairness and justice in the Abu Bakar Ba’asyir case, while demonstrators in Solo condemned the U.S. and the Indonesian government for collusion against the Islamic leader.

The U.S. and Singapore are also pressing Megawati to move quickly against suspected members, leaders and any affiliate organizations of JI in Indonesia.

However, in an interview to IslamOnline, a close ally of Basyir said there indications that the Indonesian authorities were aware of the Bali bombing but poor cooperation between the intelligentsia of the region failed to prevent the bombing.

“There was a lack of coordination among the government and its agencies too. This led to the tragic event. However the way the investigation is now going, it seems the government is targeting the wrong people,” Abdullatif Ahmad said to IslamOnline on Saturday.