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| Southeast Asia | ||
| New concern after Hilton grenade | ||
| 2004-12-20 | ||
| FRESH security concerns have swept Jakarta after a hand grenade was found hidden in a tin can beside the Hilton Hotel just days after Australia warned of a possible terror attack on the complex. The grenade, which was taken away by bomb squad officers, was found by a cleaner early this morning as he swept around the heavily-guarded hotel grounds. Emeraldo Parengkuan, public relations director at the Hilton, said the grenade was inside a tin alongside the hotel fence, in the grounds of the adjacent Jakarta sports stadium. The grenade was found just days after Australian intelligence intercepts pointed to a possible attack on a major international hotel — possibly one of three Hiltons in Indonesia — during the Christmas and New Year period. "Since the warning we have very strong security in place, and all our staff were warned to look out for anything suspicious," Mr Parengkuan said.. "The cleaner found an object around 7am and we had many police here to investigate. "It just shows that the security we had in place worked." A Jakarta police spokesman said the device was a pineapple grenade and bomb squad officers had been called to take it away. "It's about the size of a fist," he said. Around 30 police had already been on duty at the hotel, including members of the elite detachment 88 anti-terrorist squad. Indonesia has suffered a series of deadly explosions blamed on Islamic extremists over the past few years, culminating in the September 9 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, which killed nine people and the bomber. The masterminds of that attack and the 2002 Bali bombings — Malaysian bomb technician Azahari Husin and Jemaah Islamiah top recruiter Noordin Top — are still on the run despite a massive manhunt across Indonesia. Police fear the pair may be planning to repeat a wave of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 which left 19 dead. Officers found several makeshift explosives on a bus last week, but said a different group was responsible. The hand grenade was found in a small patch of garden next to the back exit gate of the sprawling hotel complex in heart of the city, a police official said. An Australian embassy spokeswoman said the find would not alter Australia's already tough travel warnings about Indonesia, which advised travellers to stay clear of the country. She said the warning about Christmas attacks, matched by Britain, New Zealand and Japan, remained valid. US State Department warnings also advise Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Indonesia, saying "the terrorist threat continues and may increase over the December-January holiday period." Police have deployed an additional 18,400 personnel for Christmas and New Year to protect churches and entertainment centres. Mr Parengkuan said the hotel had not seen a mass exodus of guests, but that some groups had cancelled functions because of the threat.
UPDATE: A grenade found in the parking lot of the heavily guarded Hilton hotel in Jakarta on Monday was old and a dud, and the device might have been there for a long time, Indonesian police said. "The grenade was not active and was corroded. There is a possibility it was there before the Hilton was built," Indonesian police spokesman Paiman told a news conference. Another officer said the bomb squad were examining the device, which he called a pineapple grenade. It was found early on Monday morning by a sweeper. Emeraldo Parengkuan, public relations director at the Jakarta Hilton, said a staff member found a suspicious package. "It was wrapped in a can," Parengkuan said.
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| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #2 Waiting for exploding implants? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-12-20 4:01:30 PM |
| #1 "New concern after Hilton grenade." Sounds like the next season of The Simple Life just got a whole lot more interesting . . . . |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-12-20 1:32:19 PM |