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Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police on Thursday hunted for four gunmen who grabbed $1 million in a daring raid at Kuala Lumpur international airport, spraying bullets and wounding five people.
In Wednesday's drama, the gunmen ambushed two moneychangers and their two armed guards at the busy departure hall of the airport before opening gunfire and grabbing a bag containing the money. They escaped in two cars driven by another two men.
The heist is a major embarrassment for the country's airport authorities and came just a day after a passenger smuggled a fruit knife into a Bangladeshi plane, forcing a security scare.
The police moved yesterday to soothe concerns about Malaysia's rising security risks, saying that the latest case was an isolated one. But they admitted their investigations could be hampered because the airport did not have security cameras at the crime scene.
"This case is isolated and the public should not perceive the airport as an unsafe location," Federal police deputy chief Esmail Omar was quoted by state Bernama news agency as saying. A Nepali businessman and a policeman also suffered gunshot wounds in the shoot-out, which lasted for about five minutes. Police found 40 spent cartridges at the site.
The incident did not disrupt flights. The airport, operated by state-controlled Malaysia Airports Holdings handled about 26 million passengers in 2007, up by 10 per cent from 2006.
Washington (AFP & Reuters) US President George W. Bush warned Iran yesterday that it faced a "choice" on Iraq and said that the United States would act to defend its interests there from any threats from Tehran.
"The regime in Tehran also has a choice to make: They can live in peace with its neighbour, enjoy strong economic and cultural and religious ties, or it can continue to arm and train and fund illegal militant groups which are terrorising the Iraqi people and turning them against Iran," he said.
"If Iran makes the right choice, America will encourage a peaceful relationship between Iran and Iraq. If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners," Bush said in a speech defending his handling of the war in Iraq.
He said he would suspend US troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer but cut the length of tours of duty, as he defended his war policy that will leave any resolution of the conflict to his successor.
Bush endorsed a recommendation by his commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, to complete a limited withdrawal of combat forces by July but then impose a 45-day freeze on the total number of troops at about 140,000 to assess the security situation before considering more cuts. "I've told him he'll have all the time he needs," Bush said.
The president, under pressure over strains on the US military, said the tour of duty for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will be reduced to one year from 15 months.
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