Militants claim Jakarta bombing

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Muslim Jemaah Islamiyah militants are suspected of detonating the car bomb that exploded Thursday outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people and wounding 173 in a bloody strike at a key U.S. 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 Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. 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-Qaida, 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 extremist Islamic 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 (holy warriors) 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 heavily fortified Australian Embassy was killed, although several Australians and Chinese were wounded.

The bombing came less than a week after the United States and Australia upgraded long-standing travel warnings to their citizens in Indonesia, citing an increased risk of terror attacks on Western targets.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the Aug. 5, 2003, suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.

Australia, a key supporter of the U.S. war on terrorism, sent 2,000 troops for last year's invasion of Iraq and still has more than 850 military personnel in the country. The Iraq war is deeply unpopular in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan condemned the bombing in a statement issued in Pennsylvania, where President Bush was campaigning.