The Australian government said a deadly bomb blast yesterday near its embassy in the Indonesian capital was the work of terrorists -- possibly al-Qaeda offshoot Jemaah Islamiyah -- and vowed not to be influenced by the attack.
"This is not a nation that is going to be intimidated by acts of terrorism," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.
The massive blast came during an Australian election campaign in which the war on terror has been a key issue.
The Jakarta explosion shattered windows at the embassy and nearby buildings. Indonesian police said eight people died and 161 were injured.
No Australians were among the dead, and Howard said reinforced walls and gates surrounding the embassy probably prevented more casualties.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there was no immediate word on who was behind the attack but that police in Jakarta suspected Jemaah Islamiyah.
He flew later yesterday to Jakarta with Australia's federal police chief, several bomb experts and the nation's top spymaster.
"It's the view of the Indonesian national police that this bombing had all the hallmarks of a Jemaah Islamiyah operation," Downer said. "Their argument that Jemaah Islamiyah is likely to be involved is based on the pattern of the bombing that had taken place."
Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people across the region in recent years.
Howard's three-term conservative government is a key supporter of the US-led war on terror and is one of only three nations, along with the US and Britain, that sent troops to invade Iraq last year.
Howard says Australia's role in the invasion has not raised the country's profile as a potential terror target, arguing that it had been at risk of attack well before last year.
The opposition Labor Party, running neck-and-neck with the government in pre-election polls, disputes that.
It has vowed to beef up national security through measures such as a US-style homeland security department if it wins the election. Labor's foreign affairs spokesman was to fly to Jakarta with Downer.
Labor leader Mark Latham condemned the attack.
"The terrorists responsible for this attack are evil and barbaric and must be dealt with as harshly as possible," Latham said in the northeastern city of Cairns.
Eighty-eight Australians were among the 202 people killed in the terrorist bombings on Indonesia's vacation island of Bali on Oct. 12, 2002 -- an attack Australians see as their equivalent of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes in the US.
Last week, the government reissued a travel warning for Indonesia, saying Australians should postpone all but essential travel to the world's most populous Muslim nation because of the risk of terrorist attacks.
Clive Williams, director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said he doubted the blast would affect Australia's election because both sides have vowed not to bow to terrorists.
"Both the government and the opposition are trying to portray themselves as tough on national security," he said.
Differences between the government and the opposition about how long hundreds of Australian troops deployed in Iraq should stay there -- Labor says they should be brought home by Christmas while Howard says they'll stay as long as needed -- have raised fears of a terrorist attack similar to Spain's train bombings earlier this year.
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