Indonesian police 'received text message warning of blast'
Police received a phone text message before the Australian Embassy bombing, warning that foreign missions in Jakarta would be attacked unless the alleged head of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group was freed, Australia’s foreign minister said today.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard repeated Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s allegation at a press conference in Canberra, saying the threat was not passed on to Australian Federal Police until hours after Thursday’s bombing.
Indonesian police said they received no such warning.
“That’s not true. Where did Downer get that from?” said spokesman Maj Gen Paiman, who goes by a single name.
Earlier today, Downer told reporters in Jakarta that ”Indonesian police received an SMS 45 minutes before the attack to the effect that Western embassies would be attacked unless Abu Bakar Bashir was released”. He did not elaborate.
Bashir is in jail awaiting trial on charges that he heads Jemaah Islamiyah, which police have accused of carrying out Thursday’s attack in which nine people died. The same group is blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and an attack last year on the JW Marriott Hotel.
Australia and the US have both publicly accused Bashir of terrorism, and urged Indonesia to prosecute him. Bashir denies any wrongdoing.
