The Jakarta Post, 4/28/2003 12:26:52 PM
Australian experts help police investigating bombings
SYDNEY, (Agrncies): Australian bomb experts are in Indonesia investigating recent
terrorist attacks in Jakarta, Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty said on
Monday.
A bomb exploded under a bridge near the United Nations office last week while
another blast at Jakarta airport at the weekend injured 11 people.
Keelty said after addressing a counter-terrorism conference here that Australian
authorities were looking at suspicions the blasts were linked to the arrests of Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) suspects over the Bali bombings.
"We have deployed bomb analysis experts to Jakarta, in fact we had one on the
ground looking at the bombing behind the UN building which occurred lastweek,"
Keelty was quoted by AFP as saying.
"What we are looking for with the Indonesians is whether this is linked tothe trials that
are about to start in Bali or whether it's other action associated with what's going on in
Aceh and Ambon and other places."
Australia's federal police played a key role in supporting Indonesianpolice during their
successful investigation into last October's Bali bombingswhich claimed 202 lives.
Police have arrested 34 suspects.
Keelty quoted a US security expert who warned "Australia should braceitself for a
repeat of Bali sometime within the next 12 months".
But the AFP chief declined to endorse the grim prediction to journalists.
"We are in a state of heightened alert in Australia, although the threatagainst
Australians is low," he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said earlier that Australians had not
been targeted by the Jakarta airport blast.
Downer also heads to Indonesia on Monday for a conference in Bali on people
smuggling and terrorism.
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