US says extremists plan to bomb Jakarta hotels

JAKARTA - The United States says extremists are planning to bomb the lobbies of Jakarta hotels in attacks targeting westerners.

The warning, posted on the website of the US embassy in Jakarta today, said the bombings were to happen around noon on an unspecified date.

"There is no additional information on the timing for the attack(s), or the method of attack," the warning said.

The US told its citizens in Indonesia to register with its Jakarta embassy or its missions in Surabaya in East Java province and Bali.

The US reopened its diplomatic offices in Indonesia just three days ago after shutting them last week because of a security threat.

Security experts said website tips on the best ways to attack the US embassy in Jakarta and movements by violent Islamic groups were factors in the closures.

A militant website had suggested that firing a grenade into the Jakarta embassy would be more practical than a suicide bomber trying to get inside the facility, which is protected by walls, wire, concrete barriers and armed guards.

Indonesian police had linked Jemaah Islamiah, a group seen as the regional arm of al-Qaeda, to the website.

Attacks against western targets blamed on Jemaah Islamiah include blasts at Bali nightclubs in October 2002 that killed 202 people, and one last September outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed up to 11.

The Australian embassy in Jakarta is already on heightened alert following the posting of an abusive letter and white powder to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.

The incident followed the sentencing last week of Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby to 20 years in prison for drug-smuggling after her trial in a Bali court.

- AAP