Commonwealth athletes 'won't back down'

An Australian Commonwealth Games official says athletes will be competing in the 2010 Games in Delhi, despite security threats.

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"We are going to these games." That's the defiant message from Australian Commonwealth Games athletes facing threats of violence from Islamist militants.

The latest threat came from one of the most violent and hunted men on the subcontinent, Ilyas Kashmiri.

He is the leader of the feared 313 brigade, an al-Qaeda linked group widely believed responsible for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that left 165 people dead including two Australians.

Head of the Australian Commonwealth Games association Perry Crosswhite was in little mood for turning back on Thursday, saying the athletes would be as secure as anyone inside the games village.

"We are going to these games," Mr Crosswhite told AAP.

"We have to continue this way.

"Unless something happens that does not allow the games to go ahead, we will have a team there."

Vice president of tactical intelligence at global intelligence company Stratfor Scott Stewart is worried about Kashmiri, who has been reported dead several times.

Kashmiri is a former Pakistani commando and now runs the 313 brigade which is an operational arm of al-Qaeda.

"He has vowed to continue targeting foreigners in attacks across India," Mr Stewart said.

But it is unlikely, Mr Stewart said, that athletes would be directly targeted.

"The real threat is going to be the soft targets," Mr Stewart told AAP on Thursday.

Soft targets will include the bars, restaurants and shopping areas around the athletes village and stadiums in Delhi.

He went on to endorse Australian Federal Police plans to have officers live with athletes inside the village.

"It would be helpful, they can keep an eye on things, make sure things are done right."

Beyond the immediate threat of Kashmiri, Mr Stewart says the Indian landscape provides plenty of threats for security forces to focus on.

"The problem is there are so many threats from so many actors.

"The police there are not as well trained in areas like tactics, marksmanship, the country is just so darn huge."

Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean said there was no intelligence that would force an Australian withdrawal from the Games.

"We're in touch with the sporting bodies that have to make the final decision as to whether the team goes across," he told ABC Radio.


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Source: AAP


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