Jakarta bomb kills at least 7

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A powerful car bomb exploded near the Australian Embassy in Jakarta yesterday, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100, police said.

Al Qaeda-linked militants were suspected in the blast. No one inside the heavily fortified embassy was hurt, said Lyndall Sachs, a spokeswoman for the Australian foreign ministry in Canberra.A senior police officer, who asked not to be identified, said seven people died, including three policemen guarding the building.A doctor at a nearby hospital said 98 people were admitted with injuries, and that none of the victims were foreigners.Indonesian police said yesterday an elusive Malaysian bomb expert involved with al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants was emerging as the prime suspect.Azahari Husin, a former professor and explosives expert, believed to have been involved in earlier Jemaah Islamiyah bomb attacks in Bali and on Jakarta’s Marriott hotel, could be behind the blast.”Our prime target is to arrest him (Azahari),” national police chief General Da’i Bachtiar told reporters.He said the explosion was caused by a car bomb, similar to earlier devices said to be the Malaysian’s work.Azahari and compatriot Noordin Mohammad Top are suspected of making the bombs used in the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people died and in the August 2003 attack on the Marriott in which 12 perished.Both attacks were blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group.”Dr Azahari has the specific capability.”Why do we continue to look at this group? Because it (yesterday’s bombing) has a very close resemblance to the Bali and the Marriott bombings,” Bachtiar said.Bachtiar said the car is believed to have blown up in front of the embassy and had not yet entered the embassy compound.But he said it was not clear whether it was the work of a suicide bomber.Jakarta military commander Major General Agustadi said he believed the attack was a suicide operation.”From data on the ground it looks like it was a suicide bombing and it was carried out with a car,” he said.- Nampa-AP-AFPNo one inside the heavily fortified embassy was hurt, said Lyndall Sachs, a spokeswoman for the Australian foreign ministry in Canberra.A senior police officer, who asked not to be identified, said seven people died, including three policemen guarding the building.A doctor at a nearby hospital said 98 people were admitted with injuries, and that none of the victims were foreigners.Indonesian police said yesterday an elusive Malaysian bomb expert involved with al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants was emerging as the prime suspect.Azahari Husin, a former professor and explosives expert, believed to have been involved in earlier Jemaah Islamiyah bomb attacks in Bali and on Jakarta’s Marriott hotel, could be behind the blast.”Our prime target is to arrest him (Azahari),” national police chief General Da’i Bachtiar told reporters.He said the explosion was caused by a car bomb, similar to earlier devices said to be the Malaysian’s work.Azahari and compatriot Noordin Mohammad Top are suspected of making the bombs used in the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people died and in the August 2003 attack on the Marriott in which 12 perished.Both attacks were blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group.”Dr Azahari has the specific capability.”Why do we continue to look at this group? Because it (yesterday’s bombing) has a very close resemblance to the Bali and the Marriott bombings,” Bachtiar said.Bachtiar said the car is believed to have blown up in front of the embassy and had not yet entered the embassy compound.But he said it was not clear whether it was the work of a suicide bomber.Jakarta military commander Major General Agustadi said he believed the attack was a suicide operation.”From data on the ground it looks like it was a suicide bombing and it was carried out with a car,” he said.- Nampa-AP-AFP