Eye on a crisis: Muslim groups check Java hotels for Americans

In our daily roundup of newspaper coverage of the terror crisis, the Jakarta Post reports on how hundreds of radical Muslim groups visited hotels in central Java to find out whether Americans were staying there.

Riding cars and motorcycles, the groups, who call themselves the Anti-American Terrorist Soldiers, were insisting that United States citizens should leave if the US attacked Afghanistan.

Canada's Globe and Mail reports that Prime Minister Jean Chretien is expected to offer US President George W. Bush a wide range of military support options and assurances of heightened security at the countries' border when they meet today at the Oval Office.

It says that Chretien has been criticised in some circles for not visiting Ground Zero. Chretien has "brushed off" suggestions that Bush snubbed Canada in a speech to Congress by not mentioning the country in a list of supporters.

Opposition politicians in Canada blamed the Prime Minister, saying he had not offered enough concrete help in the fight against terrorism.

The Chicago Sun-Times tries to get inside terrorists' heads by talking to a researcher who has talked to 35 suicide bombers.

Jerrold Post, of George Washington University, says the fanatics do not see any innocent victims in the midst of a jihad.

The former CIA profiler says they are not crazed people. He tells the paper they are rational, logical, above average in intelligence and suffer no major psychological problems. They are just utterly convinced that they are right.

The Boston Globe has a special report on the activities of the 10 hijackers who were based at Boston, following the paper trail of obtained photo identifications, rented mail boxes and airplane tickets.

The Los Angeles Times says even some longtime critics of the practice of racial profiling "now acknowledge that it is inevitable, or even appropriate, under the circumstances."

The paper says that while federal authorities say they are trying to be respectful of people's rights, others say they feel targeted. The Council on American Islamic Relations said that Arab Americans had been unfairly harassed by federal agents because of their ethnic background.

In Britain, the Daily Mail and the Times focus on possible moves to introduce compulsory ID cards, which is one of several anti-terror measures being considered.

The Guardian has a special report from the Northern Alliance frontline of Afghanistan. Under the heading "Trapped in the dark ages, a ragtag army welcomes the US bombs", the paper says the depleted opposition is preparing for the onslaught.

The Daily Express reports that one of the terror suspects arrested in the US had lived in Britain and was believed to be planning chemical attacks using crop-sprayer planes.

The Mirror claims that British secret agents and SAS troops have found chief suspect Osama bin Laden's "lair" and that all escape routes have been sealed.

Map: Opposing forces in the war against terror

Afghanistan facts and links