World leaders arrive for summit amid heavy security

 US President Barack Obama participates in a town hall meeting with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative(YSEALI) attendees at Taylor's university,Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia,20th Nov,2015 before attending the ASEAN summit meeting


Malaysia deployed extraordinary security measures around Kuala Lumpur on Friday as world leaders arrived for a pair of weekend summits amid fresh attacks by Islamist militants. Malaysia's police chief cited unconfirmed reports of an "imminent terrorist threat" in the country, following last week's attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt by Islamic State militants.
Some 4,500 soldiers were deployed or on standby to secure the summit, in addition to thousands of police who have fanned out around the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The site is home to Petronas Towers, once the world's tallest buildings, and a convention center where the summits are taking place. The leaders of 18 countries, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting followed by the East Asia Summit.
Shortly after Obama arrived, reports from the African nation of Mali said gunmen shouting Islamist slogans attacked a luxury hotel in the capital of Bamako, taking 170 guests and hotel staff hostage. It was not immediately clear who the gunmen were affiliated with.
Obama has been briefed by his national security advisor on the incident, a White House official traveling with the President said.Both the APEC meeting and the ASEAN summit typically focus on economic issues but have been overshadowed by global efforts to combat Islamic State following the attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the weekend summit would address issues of terrorist threats abroad and locally. "These are real concerns to us in the region," he told a meeting of ASEAN business leaders on Friday. "And we in ASEAN, we are inherently moderate people."

In September, Malaysian police thwarted a plot to detonate bombs in Kuala Lumpur’s vibrant tourist area of Bukit Bintang, nearby the Petronas Towers. Other recent plots frustrated by Malaysian security forces included plans to raid army camps and seize weapons.