Bomb blast outside Aussie Embassy in Jakarta kills at least 7

Embassy blast kills 7 in Jakarta
By Indonesia correspondent Tim Palmer and agencies

Seven people are now reported to have been killed after a blast outside the Australian embassy building in Jakarta this afternoon, but no Australians have been badly hurt.

Hospital officials in Jakarta say at least seven people were killed and nearly 100 injured. Indonesian Radio is also reporting around 100 people have been injured.

Doctors at Jakarta's Metropolitan Medical Centre, close to the scene of the explosion, said four dead people had been received at their facility and at least 99 injured.

Mardiono, a medic at the morgue of Jakarta's Ciptomangunkusumo general hospital, said three unidentified bodies had also been sent there from the blast scene.

All Australian staff working in the embassy in Jakarta have been accounted for, but some are reported to have suffered minor injuries.

ABC Indonesian correspondent Tim Palmer says embassy guards and police took the brunt of the massive blast that left no sign of the vehicle carrying the bomb, except for a huge water-filled crater in the road.

"I saw motorcyclist dead, still on his bike, and a woman apparently waiting to visit the embassy also among the dead," he said.

Outside the embassy, there is enormous damage in the street with every window up to around 15 storeys high in four surrounding office towers shattered.

Motor vehicles destroyed in the blast, are still strewn across the street.

So massive was the explosion that there is no evidence apart from a water-filled crater of the vehicle that carried a bomb.

One Australian embassy official said the bomb must have been high quality, because there is no residue left from the explosive.

ABC radio journalist Megan James, who is living in Jakarta, says the blast is fuelling rumours in the expatriate community.

She says parents are collecting children from an Australian school to take them to a safe-house, while Indonesian authorities try to control the scene.

"There are firemen obviously at the scene, there are emergency services, Indonesian security guards trying to keep people out of the area, but there are thousands of people in the area, the blast blew out everywhere and it would look to be a number of people killed in the street," she said.

Witnesses

The chairman of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council in Western Australia, Ross Taylor, says he was about two kilometres away from the embassy when he heard the blast.

"I heard it in the most dramatic form, I mean it was a very very loud bang and enough of my colleagues around in different locations in Jakarta were aware of it as well, so this is a very powerful bomb," he said.

"There would be at least at any one time eight or nine armed police officers and a large military truck that is always maintained at the front of the building, now I understand that truck's gone, I mean literally gone.

ABC radio journalist Megan James says the scenes are horrible.

"There are people being pulled out of gutters, there are the remnants of motorbikes in the middle of the street burnt out with the remains of bodies on top of them, there are security guards pulling themselves out of bushes and then collapsing on the sidewalk, it would look that there would be the Marriott bomb toll plus," she said.

"People who were nearby reported a 50-metre high smoke plume from that explosion and the sound of that explosion was heard at least in a five kilometre radius, and windows were shaken in a friend of mine's building for instance who lived in the regent department about five kilometres away."

"One would assume from that there'll be a number of casualties and the tragedy of this is of course that this is Indonesians that are getting killed in this."

Howard

Prime Minister John Howard says it is believed a car bomb was responsible for the explosion in Jakarta.

Addressing media conference in Melbourne this afternoon, Mr Howard said there had been a number of fatalities and that information from the Australian Federal Police indicate six people may have died.

Mr Howard says all Australian staff have been accounted for and apart from a few minor injuries there have been no deaths or major injuries.

He says some local staff are not yet accounted for.

Mr Howard says those killed could include some locally based security personnel and passers-by.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is going to Jakarta tonight along with nine bomb experts senior medical officer and a staff counsellor.

Mr Howard says he will speak to Latham as soon as possible about the incident and has extended an invitation to the Federal Opposition to send a representative with Mr Downer.

Crisis centre

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed there have been no casualties among Australian embassy staff.

However a spokesperson says some locals employed at the embasssy have yet to be accounted for.

The embassy has been evacuated and a crisis centre set up.

Australians are being advised to avoid non essential travel to Jakarta.

Any enquiries about relatives or friends there can be directed to the Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1195760.htm