Over 100 bomb threats received since Australian Embassy attack<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city police have received over 100 reports of bomb threats
\nsince the Australian embassy bombing that killed 10 people last
\nSeptember, an officer has said.<\/p>\n
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said Sunday that the
\npolice had received bomb threats to malls, office buildings and
\nhotels since September last year, but nothing had materialized so
\nfar.<\/p>\n
\"We receive reports of bomb threats almost every day, and we
\nare kind of getting used to them,\" he told The Jakarta Post
\nwhen asked to comment on newspaper reports that Jamaah Islamiyah
\n(JI), which has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in
\nthe country, was preparing a new wave of attacks here.<\/p>\n
Christians across the country celebrated Easter this year
\nunder heavy guard following warnings from several embassies that
\nbomb attacks might be launched by the terrorist group during the
\nholiday.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Police deployed more than 16,000 personnel, equal
\nto two-thirds of its total force, to provide security for the
\nnearly one million Christians who celebrated Easter in Jakarta's
\nmore than 1,000 churches.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the U.S. Embassy had issued a travel warning its
\ncitizens to avoid the World Trade Center in Mangga Dua, North
\nJakarta, from March 11 to 14.<\/p>\n
Police combed the area quickly, but they found no signs of a
\nbomb. Meanwhile, shoppers stayed away from the center.<\/p>\n
The British and Thai Embassies were forced to suspend their
\noperations following bomb threats they received via text messages
\nin February. The messages were apparently sent by a girl to
\nprevent her boyfriend, a police guard at the Thai embassy, from
\ngoing home in East Java.<\/p>\n
\"We are afraid that bomb threats are now being used to gain
\ncertain advantages, including for personal, business or political
\ngain, but as police we must check every possibility,\" said
\nTjiptono.<\/p>\n
\"We have checked all the places that have been threatened but
\nhave found nothing to date. Our intelligent reports also have
\nnothing to say about a new threat. However, we will continue to
\nbe alert and gather information,\" said Tjiptono, referring to a
\nrecent report in Singapore's Straits Times daily that JI members
\nwere now planning renewed bomb attacks in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
JI is al-Qaedah's Southeast Asian regional terrorist group
\nand has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in the
\nregion, including the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, and the JW
\nMarriott Hotel attack in Jakarta on Aug. 5, 2003.<\/p>\n
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has repeatedly warned
\nthat JI could launch further bomb attacks across the country,
\nespecially as both of its top bomb experts, Malaysians Azahari
\nbin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top, are still at large.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/over-100-bomb-threats-received-since-australian-embassy-attack-1447893297",
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