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- Website tied to U.S. Indonesia closures By Jerry Norton
- Police up intelligence operations after threat against U.S. mission

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Website tied to U.S. Indonesia closures By Jerry Norton
Fri May 27, 5:30 AM ET
Jakarta (Reuters)

Website tips on the best ways to attack the United States embassy and
movements by suspected members of violent Islamic groups were factors in
the closure of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Indonesia, experts said on
Friday.

When the closures were announced on Thursday, an embassy statement
referred to terrorist threats without offering details. An embassy
spokesman has declined to elaborate, but the facilities will be closed
until further notice.

A New York Times report attributed the closings to the appearance on a
militant Web Site of a diagram of the embassy, showing the location of the
ambassador's office and other sites, and advising, in the Indonesian
language, on the most effective means to attack the sprawling low-rise
complex.

The Web Site posting "obviously caused the embassy enough concern to
justify them closing," a Western security expert based in Indonesia told
Reuters.

Jakarta police spokesman Tjiptono said the closure "was because we had
received information on the movement of Azahari (bin Husin) and Noordin M.
Top ... and the movement of their men in the capital."

Police say Azahari and Top, both Malaysians, are among the masterminds
behind a spate of bombings in Indonesia and are key members of Jemaah
Islamiah, a group seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.

Attacks against Western targets in Indonesia blamed on Jemaah Islamiah
include blasts at Bali nightclubs in October 2002 that killed 202 people,
mostly foreigners, and one last September outside the Australian embassy
in Jakarta that killed 10.

National police chief Da'i Bachtiar linked the Jemaah Islamiah fugitives
with the embassy diagram.

"Our investigation on the Azahari group ... prompts an analysis that there
has been communication among this group as a preparation to conduct
another attack. From that analysis, there is information or a picture that
refers to a map of the U.S. embassy in Jakarta. Probably, this is what the
U.S. authorities thought as a plan to attack the embassy," he told
reporters.

But he also suggested the development could be a diversion.

"This can be a trick. Why attack a target so openly like that and create
concern?"

A second Western security expert suggested the U.S. facility closures,
which included consulates in Bali and Surabaya and an office in Medan,
reflected several factors.

"It looks like there's sort of a whole string of things ... converging at
the same time," said Ken Conboy, country manager at Risk Management
Advisory in Indonesia.

Aside from the Jemaah Islamiah movements and diagram, which he considered
"rather amateurish," he cited the recent Newsweek magazine article
alleging U.S. military abuse of the Koran.

The article, subsequently retracted, "did generate an awful lot of
tension. It got people out in the streets."

A visit to Washington this week by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and reports Indonesians trained in violent tactics by Muslim
militants in the Philippines had returned were other concerns, Conboy
said.

In addition, he added "there's the fact that Jemaah Islamiah averages
about a strike a year, and it's been about eight months since the last
one, so that's more than enough time for them to plan another."

The other Western security expert expressed similar sentiments, saying it
is likely "a matter of when rather than if" another attack will come.
-- (With additional reporting by Telly Nathalia)
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The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
May 28, 2005
Police up intelligence operations after threat against U.S. mission
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National Police are intensifying undercover operations following
intelligence information claiming that a terrorist group under the
leadership of Malaysian fugitive Azahari bin Husin possesses a map of the
United States embassy in Jakarta, which prompted the closure of U.S.
missions across the country.

"Based on the information, the U.S. embassy closed its missions," National
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday, adding that police
intelligence operations were underway to find the whereabouts of the
group.

Members of the Azahari group, said Da'i, quoting the intelligence
analysis, may target the U.S. embassy and there has been increasingly
frequent communication between them indicating that they were planning
another strike.

The U.S. government closed its missions in Indonesia indefinitely on
Thursday due to an unspecified security threat. The closure came as
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was making his landmark visit to
Washington.

The police have said that the Azahari group, named after the man who is
wanted for allegedly masterminding a spate of bombings over the past three
years, planned to launch an attack on a number of oil refineries in
Kalimantan.

Da'i said police were suspicious that the information on a possible strike
on U.S. property might be a tactic to divert security authorities'
attention from their real attack target.

"We consider the information a possible attempt to mislead the police,"
said Da'i, quoted by Antara.

Therefore, he added, police have stepped up precautionary measures to
protect foreign missions and facilities as well as public facilities here.

Jakarta Police have deployed 170 officers and two armored personnel
carriers to guard the U.S. embassy in Jakarta following its closure on
Thursday.

Spokesman for Jakarta Police Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the heavy police
presence would be maintained until Tuesday, but would be extended if
necessary.

On normal days only between 10 to 20 officers plus an armored personnel
carrier are stationed at the embassy.

Tjiptono added that the number of officers could be increased based on the
situation.

Jakarta Police have also beefed up security measures at other embassies,
placing up to 20 Mobile Brigade elite units and an armored car at each of
the foreign missions.

In addition, police are also conducting impromptu checks on motorists.

An Indonesian-language website offered chilling instructions on how to
attack a U.S. Embassy with rocket launchers or a suicide bomb, along with
a diagram that purports to identify the ambassador's office.

The diagram was posted on a web page using a free domain provider in the
Pacific island of Nauru. The domain, co.nr, is among many that allow
anyone with a valid e-mail account to create a web page, often without
verifying the identity of the author.

According to information registered with co.nr, the page was first posted
early Wednesday. The registered owner is listed as a Malaysian.

The site was periodically unavailable on Friday, but a worker at co.nr
said in an e-mail that it had no immediate plan to terminate the site's
account.

Under the banner "Brigade Istimata International," the site shows a floor
plan with labels that describe an ambassador's office, staff room and the
locations of cameras and metal detectors.

The page doesn't specify that the floor plan is the U.S. embassy in
Jakarta, and it wasn't clear if the plan was accurate for any U.S.
embassy.

"The use of the suicide bomber is possible," the site says, noting the
blast impact from 150 kilograms of TNT could be more than 30 meters. It
also says: "Using a grenade launcher is an effective measure."

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy told The Associated Press that officials
were aware of the web page but declined to comment further.
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