Indonesia linked the al-Qaeda network to the Bali bomb explosions that killed 181 people, conceding for the first time yesterday the group was operating in the predominantly Muslim country.
And in a sign that an investigation into the blasts was making progress, police said they had names of individuals connected to the attacks.
Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil told reporters the blasts were the work of professionals.
That is why, he said, "I am not afraid to say, though many have refused to say, that an al-Qaeda network exists in Indonesia."
"I am convinced that there is a domestic link with al-Qaeda," he said. Djalil's comments appear designed to head off criticism from Indonesia's neighbors that it is not doing enough to combat terrorism.
Frustrated that months of warnings fell on deaf ears, those neighbors have piled pressure on Jakarta to finally clamp down on Islamic militants suspected of being behind the attacks on nightclubs along Bali's Kuta Beach packed with foreign tourists.
The US ordered all non-essential diplomats and all family members -- about 300 people -- to leave Indonesia.
Yesterday, distraught relatives leafed through photographs in a Bali morgue to identify loved ones.
Australian survivors of Saturday's explosions began streaming home through Sydney airport, some clutching surfboards and souvenirs as they fell sobbing into the arms of family and friends.
"It was like a war broke out. It was just fear," Leigh McGrath, 22, told reporters at Sydney airport, recalling the car bomb outside the Sari nightclub.
Hundreds more frightened and injured tourists headed for Bali's airport to catch flights home.
A few were in wheelchairs, others on crutches and swathed in bandages.
Bali police spokesman Yatim Suyatmo said investigators "have names that would lead in some directions to solve this case."
"There are names which are linked [to the explosions] who could give information," he said, without giving any details.Indonesia's foreign minister underlined an apparent hardening of resolve in Jakarta by telling reporters there was "no doubt" the country faced a terrorist threat.
The worst act of terror since Sept. 11 last year fanned fears that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda -- dispersed from Afghanistan after the World Trade Center attack -- was regrouping.
Malaysia said it would closely watch nightspots popular with Westerners. The Philippines, battling a Muslim insurgency, put its police force on a nationwide alert over fears of further attacks.
Indonesian police are getting help from overseas experts, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Australian investigators. The Australian Federal Police said yesterday it had sent 44 bomb and body identification experts to Bali.
Diplomats were watching for any moves against the Jemaah Islamiah group. Southeast Asian nations have rounded up scores of its members and have warned that others have gone to ground in Indonesia.
They identify one key leader as militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who runs a religious school in central Java.
Bashir, who has consistently denied links to Jemaah Islamiah or terrorism, said he had heard reports he might be arrested.
Ordinary Indonesians were stunned at the carnage on the "island of the Gods" -- a Hindu enclave in a moderate Muslim nation that had been cocooned from the violence and unrest that has engulfed the country since former strongman Suharto was toppled nearly five years ago.
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