Jakarta Attack May Affect Elections
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Suspected Muslim terrorists detonated a car bomb yesterday outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 173 in a bloody strike at a key American ally in the war in Iraq.
The blast – the first major attack attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah in more than a year – could influence elections in Australia, where the prime minister is running on a pro-American, anti-terror platform.
The bombing also comes just ahead of Indonesia’s presidential elections and two days before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on America. The explosion left body parts and bloody corpses strewn across the busy thoroughfare and shattered windows in buildings 500 yards away. It gutted the Greek Embassy on the 12th floor of an adjacent building, slightly wounding three diplomats.
Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group linked to Al Qaeda, purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was punishing Australia for supporting the war in Iraq. The statement was posted on an Internet site known for carrying terrorist content, and its authenticity could not immediately be verified. “We decided to call Australia to account, which we consider one of the worst enemies of God, and God’s religion of Islam,” the statement said. “Here we were able to call it to account today in Jakarta, where one of the mujahedeen was able to execute a martyrdom operation with a car bomb in front of the embassy.”
The Internet statement also called on the Australian government to withdraw from Iraq and advised all Australians to leave Indonesia or face more violence.
Police said the bomb was likely the work of Azahari Husin, a reputed Jemaah Islamiyah member who has been on the run for three years. No one in the Australian Embassy was killed.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the August 5, 2003, suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.
Islamic terrorists are believed to have tried to influence the outcome of elections elsewhere. They blew up commuter trains in Spain just before elections in March, killing 191 people.
Days later, voters elected a Socialist administration that made good on its campaign pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.