RIYADH, Feb 6: Lt-Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the leader of Pakistan's delegation to an international counter-terrorism conference being held here, on Sunday underlined the need for a multi-pronged counter-terrorism strategy to neutralize the ideological appeal of extremism, address the root causes that breed extremist tendencies and assist states in surmounting socio-economic problems.

He said: "Long-term success requires strategic alliance of an international coalition and countries need to cooperate through intelligence, law enforcement, military, financial and diplomatic channels to identify, disrupt, capture and debilitate terrorists and their network."

He said the terrorists' support base had shrunk as a result of international efforts but the danger still loomed, and called for concrete strategy and concerted efforts.

He said Pakistan had signed 11 of the 12 international conventions on counter-terrorism and the conventions of the Organization of Islamic Conference and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and passed comprehensive legislation on sensitive technologies export control.

He said the terrorist networks, their affiliates and ideology were a clear and potent threat to the nations of the world without any restriction of geographical distance.

"The incident of 9/11 has taught us that terrorism is a near enemy and the terrorist organizations have demonstrated their capability to wreak havoc even against the most developed parts of the world," he said.

"Pakistan, as a member of the coalition against terrorism, has been fighting this war on several fronts. It has been fighting terrorist groups and operatives along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and with more than 70,000 troops deployed there, we were able to crush the backbone of Al Qaeda and its affiliates," he said.

He said: "Al Qaeda's command and control structure was hit hard and largely rendered inoperative as, with our vast intelligence assets, we were able to capture more than 600 Al Qaeda operatives and other suspected terrorists". Close intelligence cooperation was institutionalized between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan and to coordinate and liaise on operational issues, and the states had established a tripartite commission, he said.

Lt-Gen Kiyani said Pakistan had concluded extradition treaties with 27 countries and memorandums of understanding with 49 states. He said security dialogues on counter-terrorism were held with key countries from all regions.

He said Pakistan, through domestic and legislative measures as well as international cooperation, remained successful in monitoring illicit transactions and choking terrorist financing.

He said that as a durable solution against global terrorism, President Gen Pervez Musharraf expounded the concept of 'enlightened moderation'. "This concept also calls upon the international community, particularly the West, to step forward to help resolve political disputes affecting Muslims," he said.

He said the conference could contemplate to propose measures like abiding by the universally accepted principles of international law and human rights in the war against terrorism.

"The fight against terrorism should not be used as pretext to suppress legitimate struggles for right to self-determination," he said.

"A few individual acts of terrorism by some desperate members of freedom movements are no excuse to de-legitimize the freedom struggles for the realization of the right to self-determination," he said.

He said the intelligentsia, civil society and media organizations should play their role to create awareness about the dangers that terrorism posed to society.

He called for efforts to evolve a consensus among nations and said: "Decisions having international legitimacy stand better chance for being respected."

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal said on the conclusion of the speech that there was identity of views between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

He said a proposal for an international centre for combating terrorism had been endorsed by Pakistan.

Our correspondent adds: Over 220 people, 92 of them suspected militants, were killed in terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia over the past two years, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told delegates at the conference on Saturday.

"The kingdom witnessed 22 criminal acts during the period, including bombings, attacks and abductions. This resulted in the killing of 90 citizens and foreign residents and wounding of 507," he said.

He said that "39 members of the security forces were martyred and 213 injured, while 92 from the deviant group (Saudi term for suspected Al Qaeda militants) were killed and 17 injured".

He said more than 50 terrorist operations were aborted because of vigilance of the security forces.

Damage to property and installations from the attacks, which began in May 2003, exceeded one billion riyals, he added.