More details needed from Japan on terror alert—Lorenzana

MANILA, Philippines—Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said security officials have reached out to the Japanese embassy for more information on the terror alert it issued to its citizens in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

“We already contacted the defense attache of the Japanese embassy here and there is no feedback so far,” Lorenzana said in Filipino at an online press briefing.

Japan early this week alerted its citizens in some Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, of “increased risks such as suicide bombings,” but did not share more details or disclose the source of information.

According to the Associated Press, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned its citizens to stay away from crowds and religious facilities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar because of terror threats.

Lorenzana said Philippine security officials needed to get more details from Japan.

“We need to know more details about this attack. We cannot guess what it is and what kind of attack, or its basis, where it’s from,” Lorenzana said. “When was the report and who got it? There are a lot of questions that Japan needs to answer,” he said.

Citing information from the Philippine armed forces, Lorenzana said there was no actionable threat of a terror attack in the Philippines.

But he said the military’s intelligence apparatus continues to heighten monitoring and information gathering on terror groups in the Philippines.

TSB