Terrorists take aim at the economy

From CNN Correspondent Lisa Barron

The attacks in Zamboanga were the latest in a string of blasts in southeast Asia and beyond

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HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Two bombs that tore through a shopping center in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga were the latest in a string of fatal attacks that include a car bombing in Bali, and an explosion on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.

Security experts say the new campaign of terror, while hitting softer targets, is aimed at wreaking maximum economic havoc.

"What's going on is a sustained campaign," says Stephen Vickers, President & CEO of International Risk.

"Clearly hitting something like Bali, a well known tourist destination used heavily by foreigners has an economic as well as a political impact."

"The goals of terrors are to terrorize us, to make us not do things that we do day to day, to cause us to live in fear, and to cause economic damage," he said. "Typically it hits aviation, tourism, business, and it of course in this part of the world they're very, very key areas."

And hit it did. Investors fled Indonesian markets immediately after the Bali bomb blast, sending stocks and the currency tumbling. As well as raising fears that western companies doing business in Indonesia will physically pull out as well.

"In the aftermath, we had a number of companies who were evaluating their own security positions and evaluating whether or not they should be departing," comments business consultant, Simon Case.

"Clearly if you have a situation where foreign companies depart in large numbers or that bankers and international financiers are unwilling to come to this country, that will have an effect."

All part of the strategy, say experts, behind the latest series of strikes.

Hard to predict

Hard to predict and prevent, the attacks are being attributed to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which is feared to be weaker but more widespread since the U.S. led action in Afghanistan.

"What we've got," says Vickers, " is a network of interconnected groups with different levels of capability, operating in a somewhat coordinated fashion, some in an uncoordinated fashion. "

And Vickers and other security experts agree casualties of terrorism, both human and material, have become an increasingly regular a part of life all over the globe.

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