Americans advised to leave Indonesia<\/p>\n
Agencies, Washington\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The U.S. State Department late on Sunday urged all U.S.
\ncitizens in Indonesia to leave the country and ordered the
\ndeparture of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The department also warned U.S. citizens to defer travel to
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The bombing of a nightclub and another in the vicinity of our
\nconsular agency in Bali, Indonesia, along with the current
\nsecurity situation within Indonesia puts U.S. citizens and U.S.
\ninterests at risk,\" said a travel warning issued by the
\ndepartment.<\/p>\n
A State Department official said two Americans were killed and
\nthree were injured following the blasts, which rocked two
\nnightclubs in Bali's Kuta and left 183 people killed and more
\nthan 300 injured.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of the casualties were foreign patrons of
\npopular Bali nightspots.<\/p>\n
The State Department urged Americans who have to travel to or
\nremain in Indonesia to exercise maximum caution and take prudent
\nmeasures such as avoiding crowds and demonstrations and keeping a
\nlow profile.<\/p>\n
It also said U.S. citizens in Indonesia should avoid political
\ndemonstrations that \"can quickly turn violent.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Jakarta, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
\nWirayuda said on Monday he had heard such orders, but said that
\nthere was so far no final decision on the matter, pending further
\ndeliberation.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, any decision on that matter would be all up to
\nthe embassy, he said.<\/p>\n
\"On that matter, we leave it all to the embassy to judge. Of
\ncourse on our part, we will do whatever we can still handle,
\nincluding providing tighter security.<\/p>\n
\"But in a situation like this, each embassy can make their own
\nevaluation on the possibility of scaling down the number of its
\ncitizens or non-essential staff,\" Hassan told reporters after a
\nmeeting with foreign diplomats.<\/p>\n
Despite the attendance of more than 100 foreign diplomats, the
\nmeeting failed to lure the U.S. ambassador to the country to turn
\nup. The Australian and British ambassadors were also among those
\nabsent from the meeting.<\/p>\n
The deadly attacks on the country's most famous resort island,
\npreviously regarded as a safe haven for holidaymakers, has
\nprompted international leaders to raise concerns over the safety
\nof their citizens staying in the country.<\/p>\n
The U.S., even before the attacks, had a number of times
\ntemporarily closed its embassy for fear of terrorist attacks.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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