MorphRC Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 [font="Times"][b]3 dead in Australian embassy blast[/b][/font] [b]From AAP, AFP and AP correspondents in Jakarta 09sep04[/b] A POWERFUL explosion outside Australia's embassy in central Jakarta left at least three people dead and many wounded today, officials and witnesses said. It also caused extensive damage to nearby buildings. The immediate cause of the explosion, which punched out windows in a nearby office building and damaged the embassy's outer perimeter, was not known. An AFP reporter at the scene saw two lifeless bodies being taken away by police and another person being wheeled out on a stretcher attached to an intravenous drip. The blast about 10:30 am (1330 AEST) prompted the immediate evacuation of the embassy and caused a sharp drop on the Jakarta stock market. ElShinta radio station quoted a witness saying a police truck and a taxi in front of the embassy had been blown apart and the high steel fence surrounding the building in the Kuningan business and residential district was damaged. The al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group has been blamed for several high profile bomb attacks in Indonesia including the August 2003 attack on Jakarta's Marriott Hotel and the October 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali. Phones at the Australian embassy were not being answered. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said it was not clear if the Australian embassy was the target of the blast. She said officials in Canberra had been in contact with staff at the embassy, who said the blast happened nearby. Windows at the embassy were shattered by the explosion and staff had been evacuated. "There are shattered windows, including at the Australian Embassy, and cars have been damaged, but there are no confirmed injuries," the spokeswoman said. An AFP reporter at the scene said two lifeless bodies were seen outside the embassy. At least four people had been injured in the blast and a person's leg was lying severed on Rasuna Said Street, an AP reporter at the scene said. Four cars and the high metal fence surrounding the embassy were damaged, and windows of surrounding buildings smashed. There are a dozen other embassies in the street, including those of North Korea, Singapore, India and Denmark. Radio reports quoted witnesses as saying some victims were being treated by ambulance crews. Witnesses told Elshinta radio that one truck and one taxi were destroyed. Other witness reports said windows were shattered. Smoke was seen rising near Rasuna Said Street, which is home to several foreign embassies and businesses, shortly after 10.15am (1315 AEST). In recent weeks several Western embassies, including those of the United States and Australia, have warned their citizens about possible attacks by militants. Last year, 12 people died in a suicide attack on the JW Marriott hotel in the same district. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorphRC Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 [url="http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10714491%255E1702,00.html"]http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StColette Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemonSlayer Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 This is the first time I've heard of this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorphRC Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 It only happened at 2:30pm AEST i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 prayers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzaga Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 at least seven confirmed dead, Our thoughts and prayers. These events are becoming a regular occurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justfran Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Prayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorphRC Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 You should see it, its blown the area out. almost no windows left, something like 11 people killed, but no aussies. [url="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530752760.html?from=top5&oneclick=true"]http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/...5&oneclick=true[/url] [url="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/9/9/latest/18839Bombblast&sec=latest"]http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...last&sec=latest[/url] << Pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreepyCrawler Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 I have a friend from Indonesia and she just emailed me with the news. She lives 8 km from the embassy. Australia is responding by forcing all the Indonesian citizens in Australia to go back to Indonesia, which smells of elderberries for all the Indonesian students studying in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cappie Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 We were warned: US told officials of likely terrorist attack By Cynthia Banham and Deborah Snow September 10, 2004 The bombing of the Australian embassy was not without warning. The US put out a rare warning last Friday saying it had intelligence that terrorists might attack "identifiably American or other Western facilities or businesses in Indonesia". It advised Americans officials in Indonesia to avoid "identifiably Western hotels". The warning also prompted Australia to change its travel advisories the same day, with the Department of Foreign Affairs warning Australian officials in Jakarta to avoid Western hotels and to "take note of this advice". The ABC reported yesterday that a function that was due to be held in a Jakarta hotel at the weekend had been moved to the Australian embassy. The warning also brought a reaction from those with links to the intelligence community. The former head of intelligence for the Sydney Olympics, Neil Fergus, who is now head of the security advisory company Intelligent Risks, said he warned his clients in a memo on September 6 to "maintain stringent security to protect personnel and assets in Indonesia from JI attack". The US warning followed reports from Indonesian authorities that JI was replenishing its recruits from secret training camps in the jungles of Mindanao, in the Philippines. More than 300 JI activists have been arrested in the region since the Bali bombings. The Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said yesterday they had been given no intelligence an attack was planned against the Australian embassy in Jakarta. "I have not received any advice and we did not have any specific warning or specific advice that would suggest that this attack was going to occur in the vicinity of our embassy," Mr Howard said. Mr Downer added: "We didn't have any information of a specific attack on the Australian embassy at this time, though there have been, over a long period of time, concerns that this could happen." Senior Indonesian and Australian police had been bracing themselves for a JI attack in Indonesia before the end of the year, though no precise warnings were expected. Indonesian authorities seized more than 800 kilograms of explosives from a JI base last year but police were convinced that JI had an unknown amount of explosives still at its disposal. Mr Howard said $1.25 million had been spent upgrading security at the Australian embassy in Jakarta in the last year, and that it was one of the most secure embassies Australia had anywhere in the world. The upgrade included a stronger perimeter to make it impossible for vehicles to gain access without permission, as well stronger glazing. A number of Australian embassies have been moved because of the terrorist threat, including the Manila embassy, though not the one in Jakarta. However, the threat to the Australian mainland remains unchanged. A spokesman for the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said the National Threat Assessments Centre in Canberra reviewed domestic security threat levels immediately after the embassy blast, and that there would be no change "because there was no specific threat to the Australian mainland". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cappie Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 Girl critical after bombing From correspondents in Jakarta 10sep04 A FIVE-year-old Australian girl was critically injured and her Indonesian mother killed in the bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta. The girl is now in a Jakarta hospital and her father is on his way from Australia to Indonesia. The girl and her mother were near the gates of the embassy when the bomb went off yesterday morning. The girl and her mother were going to the embassy to pick up the passport so the girl could join her father in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest havok Posted September 9, 2004 Share Posted September 9, 2004 prayers go out to their families. I'm almost more concerned for my american freind going to school in Aussie right now than i am about myself here in the states... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cappie Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 [b]Vatican newspaper condemns Australian Embassy bombing [/b] The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano has condemned "the brutal blackmail of terrorism" in a front-page response to yesterday's bombing of the Australian embassy in Indonesia. L'Osservatore Romano observed that in the Jakarta bombing, which left at least 9 people dead and nearly 200 injured, terrorists had once again "used the brutal instruments that are their hallmark: sowing death and destruction in cities, indiscriminately attacking people in the daily lives, to eliminate security and spread panic." The paper observed that the world is on the eve of the anniversary of the shocking terrorist attacks of September 11, 2002. It also recalled the October 2002 attack on a casino in Bali, which left 200 people dead. Other Rome-based Church news services, including MISNA and AsiaNews, were also quick to respond to the attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorphRC Posted September 10, 2004 Author Share Posted September 10, 2004 I wonder if that little girl died Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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