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Journalism of Courage
Indonesian police were warned 45 minutes before a suicide car bombing outside the Australian embassy that Western missions would be attacked if a prominent militant cleric was not freed, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told a news conference in Jakarta today.
He added that the blast had the potential to strengthen relations between Australia and Indonesia. ‘‘The Indonesian and Australian governments have a pretty gritty determination to stand up and fight terrorism, hard as it is, painful as it sometimes is,’’ he said.
He said the warning to release Abu Bakr Bashir, the accused spiritual leader of an Al Qaeda-linked militant group, was conveyed in through SMS message to an elite police unit.
‘‘They got an SMS message about 45 minutes before the blast yesterday that there would be an attack on Western embassies unless Abu Bakr Bashir was released,’’ the Australian Foreign Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Al Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of further attacks. An Islamist website, http://www.Islamic-minbar.com, posted a statement saying: ‘‘We decided to settle accounts with Australia….And a mujahideen brother succeeded in carrying out a martyr operation with a car bomb.’’
The authenticity of the claim could not be verified.
Police said their key suspect was Azahari Husin, a fugitive Malaysian bomb-making expert and JI member.
