US warns of threat to attack hotels in Jakarta

The US embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, today warned Americans of a threat to bomb lobbies of hotels in the city.

The US embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, today warned Americans of a threat to bomb lobbies of hotels in the city.

An embassy statement e-mailed to Americans in Indonesia today said the embassy had learned "there were plans by extremists to conduct bomb attacks targeting the lobbies of hotels frequented by Westerners in Jakarta".

"The attacks were to occur circa noon on an unspecified date," the statement said, adding that there was no additional information on timing or method of attack.

The US embassy itself only reopened on Tuesday after closing for several days following an unspecified security threat.

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In recent years, Indonesia has suffered sporadic outbreaks of violence between religious groups, as well as bombing attacks blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a militant Islamic group linked to al-Qaeda.

The latter have included blasts at the Marriott Hotel and Australian embassy in Jakarta, and an attack on nightclubs in Bali that killed 202 people.

A number of bombings on Saturday in Tentena, a Christian town in eastern Sulawesi island, killed 22 people. Indonesian officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, although security experts said local radicals were more likely responsible.