U.S. issues fresh warning on Indonesian security
U.S. issues fresh warning on Indonesian security
Jerry Norton, Reuters/Jakarta
The United States has issued a fresh warning to Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Indonesia, calling bombings that killed 23 people in Bali on Oct. 1 "a reminder that terrorists remain active".
Indonesian police meanwhile said they were stepping up anti- terrorism measures for the country's biggest festival next week.
The U.S. warning, e-mailed on Thursday to Americans in Indonesia, said: "The possibility remains that terrorists will carry out additional attacks in Bali, Jakarta or other areas of Indonesia in the near future."
The last full-blown U.S. travel warning on Indonesia was issued in May.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a number of bomb attacks in recent year. Several aimed at Western-linked targets have been blamed on the militant Jamaah Islamiyah network.
Intelligence authorities say it is the Southeast Asian arm of al-Qaeda, the group Washington charges with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
In October 2002, a first round of bombs in Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Deadly car bomb blasts at a luxury hotel in Jakarta and another at the Australian embassy followed in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
The attacks in Bali this month hit three restaurants. The 23 casualties included three suicide bombers, according to police.
The new U.S. warning says Americans traveling to spots like Bali should consider security levels at the specific places they go to, and it repeats cautions that any place Westerners congregate in Indonesia could be a target.
"Over the past three years, domestically targeted bombings have struck religious, political, and business targets," the warning also says, referring to sporadic attacks across Indonesia's sprawling archipelago blamed on local issues.
One such bombing in May on Sulawesi island killed 22 people.
Separatist hotspots like Papua and Aceh also require caution, the warning said.
While the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels reached a peace agreement in August, "the overall security situation in Aceh remains unsettled," the warning says.
It suggests as well that travelers "consult with their personal physicians concerning avian flu". Bird flu has hit millions of chickens in Indonesia, and four human deaths from the disease have been confirmed.
The warning comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, which Indonesian police have said could be a time of fresh attacks.
They plan to tighten security and put extra police on duty, especially during the height of traveling next week when millions of Indonesians leave urban areas for their home villages to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival at the end of Ramadan.
"All regional police offices will put their Detachment-88s (terror units) on alert," Commissioner Gen. Ismerda Lebang, head of the national police security division, told reporters on Thursday.
Jakarta police chief Firman Gani said bomb surveillance units would focus on 18 spots in the city, including malls, train stations and airports.
Gani said 18,000 policeman would be deployed in the greater Jakarta area, including around 100 officers from its anti-terror detachment.
Security concerns have been one issue inhibiting foreign investment in Indonesia, and the first attacks on the resort island of Bali dealt a major blow to the tourist trade.