Australia on Friday warned of a possible terrorist attack against Western interests in Indonesia this weekend, in an updated travel advisory issued by the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra.
The advisory urged Australians against travelling to Indonesia, including the resort island of Bali, ”due to the very high threat of terrorist attack”.
”We continue to receive a stream of reporting indicating that terrorists are in the advanced stages of planning attacks in Indonesia against a range of targets, including places frequented by foreigners,” it said.
”These reports include information about potentially heightened risk of attack on particular dates — recent reports suggest Sunday, April 2, 2006, could be a potential date for attack but we emphasise that attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia.”
The advisory did not specify the source of the reports about an April 2 attack.
Australia has advised against travelling to Indonesia since the October 2002 attacks in Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Since then, the Australian embassy in Jakarta has been targeted by a suicide bomber in September 2004 and four Australians died in a second series of Bali bombings in October last year.
Australia reissues the travel advice periodically to include specific warnings, most recently advising that attacks against Western interests could occur over the Christmas/New Year period. No incidents were reported on that occasion. – AFP
