MANILA (AFP) - – The Philippines boosted security on Wednesday after Western governments warned that terrorist attacks could occur at any time in the capital and other parts of the country.
The United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned their citizens that public areas often visited by foreigners in Manila, such as shopping centres and airports, were potential targets.
"Reliable reports indicate that terrorist attacks may be imminent in Manila, including places frequented by foreigners," the Australian government advisory said.
The US State Department said the threat was highest in the southern Philippines -- where Muslim extremists and communist rebels have for decades caused unrest -- but it also warned of dangers in Manila.
"US citizens travelling, living, and working throughout the Philippines are urged to exercise heightened caution in public gathering places," the US advisory said.
"Terrorist attacks could be indiscriminate and could occur not only in the southern islands but also in other areas, to include Manila."
Philippine presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the warnings were part of heightened concerns around the world following the discovery last week of parcel bombs from Yemen that were being sent to the United States.
"The travel advisories... are part of a global alert about possible terrorist activities, not just in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world," Lacierda told reporters.
Lacierda did not mention any specific threat but said the military and the national police forces in Manila had been placed on the top-level "red alert".
Among other security measures, this meant soldiers had to remain in their barracks so they were ready to respond quickly to any potential attack.
Lacierda also called on the public to be vigilant and said that operators of shopping malls and other gathering places should boost their own security measures.
Meanwhile, the Transport and Communications Department ordered inspections of all packages being carried into ports, bus terminals and railway stations.
It also called on the post office and private courier services to check all packages to make sure that no parcel bombs got through.
The Australian and British governments emphasised that the threat level in the Philippines had not changed from previous advisories issued this year.
"The threat levels remains the same. We have not changed the level of our travel advice," the embassy's deputy head of mission, Colin Crorkin, said in a statement emailed to AFP.
The Philippines has long endured terrorist attacks such as bombings of public places and kidnappings of foreigners.
Most of those attacks have occurred in the southern region of Mindanao, more than 700 kilometres (440 miles) from Manila.
In issuing its warning, the US advisory referred to "terrorist groups" operating in Mindanao but did not name any specific group or threat.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf is the most infamous of the many groups that operate in Mindanao, where a minority Muslim population has been fighting for decades to break away from the rest of the mainly Catholic Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for violence elsewhere in the Philippines, including the bombing of a passenger ferry that killed more than 100 people in Manila Bay in 2004 in the country's worst terror attack.
The group also kidnapped three American tourists off the southwestern island of Palawan in 2001 and took them to the jungles of Mindanao. Two of the tourists died.
The Abu Sayyaf is on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organisations. US soldiers have been stationed in Mindanao since early 2002 to train local troops in how to combat the Abu Sayyaf.
