JAKARTA, 27 May 2005 — The United States closed all its diplomatic missions in Indonesia yesterday because of a security threat as police warned that militants linked to Al-Qaeda were planning an attack on an unspecified target.
Police said they had strengthened protection at several other major embassies after the United States closed its four missions in Indonesia until further notice.
National police chief Gen. Da’i Bachtiar said intelligence reports had pointed to another strike.
“The analysis of intelligence shows to us that there are preparations being made for another attack... but the target is still uncertain. There has been communication among them to conduct an attack,” Bachtiar told reporters.
He was responding to questions about fugitive Malaysian bombmaker Azahari bin Husin, one of the accused masterminds behind a spate of bombings in Indonesia and a key member of Jemaah Islamiah, a group seen as the regional arm of Al-Qaeda.
The US Embassy in Jakarta did not give details of the threat that prompted the closure of its missions, but Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said it had been spread by e-mail and cell phone.
“I have consulted with the security minister on what has happened... This is only information spreading through e-mail and cell phones and which was later intercepted by American intelligence,” Kalla told reporters without giving details of the nature of the threat.
Jakarta police chief Firman Gani said police had reinforced security at the embassies of Japan, Britain and Australia based on their own intelligence reports.
Jemaah Islamiah has launched several bomb attacks in the world’s most populous Muslim nation in recent years, including one last September outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta which killed 10 people. Azahari is a key suspect.
The closures of the American missions come during a high profile visit to the United States by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has promised to fight terrorism.
“The embassy reminds all Americans that the terrorist threat in Indonesia remains high,” the US Embassy said on its website www.usembassyjakarta.org
“Attacks could occur at any time and could be directed against any location, including those frequented by foreigners and identifiably American and other Western facilities or businesses in Indonesia,” US officials said in an e-mailed statement.
An embassy spokesman, Max Kwak, declined to elaborate.
Besides its heavily fortified embassy in central Jakarta, the United States has consulates in the city of Surabaya in East Java province and on the resort island of Bali. There is also a US representative office in the city of Medan in Sumatra.
Police armed with automatic weapons have been stationed outside the Jakarta embassy for the past few years, along with cement barricades. Security appeared little changed yesterday.
On May 18, Australia warned travelers of possible suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital after a warning was issued a day earlier by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
