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Journalism of Courage
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This is an archive article published on September 11, 2004
145;Jakarta got SMS warning146;
Indonesian police were warned 45 minutes before a suicide car bombing outside the Australian embassy that Western missions would be attacked...
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, Australia8217;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. 8216;8216;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,8217;8217; 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.
8216;8216;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,8217;8217; 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: 8216;8216;We decided to settle accounts with Australia8230;.And a mujahideen brother succeeded in carrying out a martyr operation with a car bomb.8217;8217;
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.
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