U.S. embassy in Jakarta gets attack threat

U.S. embassy in Jakarta gets attack threat

JAKARTA (JP): The public services section of the U.S. embassy
here will be closed for the rest of the week after "credible
information" was received of a possible attack, the U.S. State
Department said on Tuesday.

The embassy was already closed on Wednesday in observance of
the Ascension Day of the Prophet Muhammad, which is a national
holiday. It has been decided that the public services section
will not reopen on Thursday and Friday, State Department
spokesman Philip Reeker was quoted by AFP as saying in
Washington.

"In response to credible information of a threat to the
embassy compound, the ambassador and his team decided to close
the public services for the remainder of the week," Reeker was
quoted as saying.

He declined to give details as to the nature of the
information received.

Meanwhile, AP quoted the embassy spokesman Karl Fritz as
saying that the consular and visa services would be discontinued
until Monday because the embassy had received "a credible
threat". He refused to elaborate.

However, the embassy will remain open and its consulate will
serve U.S citizens as usual, he added.

The statement comes amid almost daily anti-Israel protests
since the upsurge in violence in the Middle East. The U.S embassy
is often targeted due to the country's close link with the Jewish
state.

House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on
Wednesday that the decision to close the public services section
of the embassy was an "overreaction".

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organized
by the Family of Muslim Students Association Alumni (KAHMI) here,
Akbar said the protests were a consequence of the country's
democratization process.

He said he was informed that the Indonesian government had
guaranteed that the demonstrations did not intend to harm or to
break the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Muslim students staged
protests in front of the embassy in Central Jakarta.

Waving banners reading "Kill Jews" and "Israel you are a
devil", nearly 300 protesters chanted and denounced alleged U.S
support for the Jewish state.

The students had earlier gathered at the Al-Azhar Mosque in
South Jakarta before marching to the U.S. embassy, stopping
briefly in front of the UN mission on the way. They also carried
posters criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and U.S.
President Bill Clinton.

On Oct. 12, the day of the attack on the USS Cole naval
destroyer moored off Aden, the United States issued a worldwide
travel alert, warning U.S. citizens to step up their security
ahead of possible anti-American demonstrations and terrorist
attacks.

This followed a similar warning issued on Oct. 4 as clashes
intensified between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in
the West Bank and Gaza. (02/byg)