Australia satisfied with security at Phnom Penh embassy

CANBERRA - Australia has strengthened security at its embassy in Cambodia after terror threats, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.

The most recent threat to the Phnom Penh embassy was in April and steps to upgrade the embassy were taken then, he said today.

Mr Downer was responding to a report in The Australian newspaper today saying a terrorist group had threatened to attack the embassy as the first in a wave of strikes.

"There was some information around on the security of embassies in April," Mr Downer told reporters.

"But we have ensured that the security of our embassy has been upgraded over a period of time.

"We're satisfied with the efforts that have been made so far to strengthen the security at our embassies."

Mr Downer said he did not want to get into the details of intelligence relating to the threat, but the government believed the security at the embassy in Phnom Penh was adequate.

He declined to say if the threat had been specifically against the Australian embassy.

The Australian newspaper said it understood the group, which identified itself only as "Allah", conveyed the threat in a letter to Canadian officials last month.

Embassies belonging to Australia, Canada, the US and other Western nations were singled out for harm, with embassies in Cambodia the first targets.

- AAP