Vietnam classifies US-based Vietnamese group as terrorist organization

The Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday announced that an organization called the "Provisional National Government of Vietnam" has been classified as a terrorist organization.

In its announcement, the ministry stated that anyone found joining, recruiting for, funding, receiving funding from, training with or working for this organization would be considered criminals and tried under the Penal Code.

According to the ministry, the petrol bomb attack that burnt down 320 motorbikes at a police's warehouse in Dong Nai Province last April was carried out under instructions from this organization.

The scene of the petrol bomb attack at a police's warehouse in the southern province of Dong Nai on April 8, 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Thai Ha.

It is also responsible for the failed terror attack on Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City last April, the ministry claimed. A group of 15 Vietnamese who allegedly carried out this attack was sentenced to 5-16 years in prison last December.

The organization is also accused of stockpiling weapons, planning terrorist attacks at government buildings and factories and forming task forces to assassinate Vietnamese leaders. However Vietnamese security forces successfully foiled all these plots.

The "Provisional National Government of Vietnam" is headquartered in the United States, according to the ministry. The organization is headed by Dao Minh Quan, who proclaimed himself as the "prime minister" of his "government."

Vietnam's police last August launched a criminal investigation and issued an arrest warrant for Quan for “terrorism to oppose the people’s administration.”

Terrorist attacks are extremely rare in Vietnam.