DANANG: Southeast Asian nations need closer cooperation to deal with incidents like the Philippines bus hijacking that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, the regional bloc`s head said Wednesday.

"I think there is room for more cooperation and more exchange of best practices, training for example," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He made the comment on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting when asked whether he was concerned about Monday`s incident in Manila.

Surin made no reference to how police handled the case, but he said generally that management of terrorism or "non-traditional security threats... is something that I think we probably need to consult more closely with each other."

The hours-long standoff ended when Philippines police fired tear gas into the bus and a sniper shot the gunman in the head -- after the tourists on board had been killed.

Security experts were baffled by the Philippines` handling of the crisis and Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang expressed anger.

BDST: 1029 HRS, August 25, 2010