Over 100 bomb threats received since Australian Embassy attack

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city police have received over 100 reports of bomb threats since the Australian embassy bombing that killed 10 people last September, an officer has said.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said Sunday that the police had received bomb threats to malls, office buildings and hotels since September last year, but nothing had materialized so far.

"We receive reports of bomb threats almost every day, and we are kind of getting used to them," he told The Jakarta Post when asked to comment on newspaper reports that Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in the country, was preparing a new wave of attacks here.

Christians across the country celebrated Easter this year under heavy guard following warnings from several embassies that bomb attacks might be launched by the terrorist group during the holiday.

The Jakarta Police deployed more than 16,000 personnel, equal to two-thirds of its total force, to provide security for the nearly one million Christians who celebrated Easter in Jakarta's more than 1,000 churches.

Earlier, the U.S. Embassy had issued a travel warning its citizens to avoid the World Trade Center in Mangga Dua, North Jakarta, from March 11 to 14.

Police combed the area quickly, but they found no signs of a bomb. Meanwhile, shoppers stayed away from the center.

The British and Thai Embassies were forced to suspend their operations following bomb threats they received via text messages in February. The messages were apparently sent by a girl to prevent her boyfriend, a police guard at the Thai embassy, from going home in East Java.

"We are afraid that bomb threats are now being used to gain certain advantages, including for personal, business or political gain, but as police we must check every possibility," said Tjiptono.

"We have checked all the places that have been threatened but have found nothing to date. Our intelligent reports also have nothing to say about a new threat. However, we will continue to be alert and gather information," said Tjiptono, referring to a recent report in Singapore's Straits Times daily that JI members were now planning renewed bomb attacks in Jakarta.

JI is al-Qaedah's Southeast Asian regional terrorist group and has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in the region, including the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, and the JW Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta on Aug. 5, 2003.

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has repeatedly warned that JI could launch further bomb attacks across the country, especially as both of its top bomb experts, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top, are still at large.