JAKARTA - Indonesian police said Monday they had received information a suicide bomber could be planning an attack during US President George W. BushÂ’s visit, triggering a thorough search of the venue.
Bogor region Police Chief Sukrawardi Dahlan confirmed authorities had received an unconfirmed report that a bomber could be planning to blow himself up near the meeting venue in Bogor, a resort town just south of here. “Since yesterday, we did conduct combing (operations) to anticipate the possibility that they throw bombs or use that kind of (suicide) bomb,” Dahlan told reporters, without saying where the information came from.
Dahlan said police had consulted the field coordinators of planned protests in Bogor, so that they can remain alert “against people who carry suspicious-looking bags or vests”.
Bush is making a brief trip of some six hours to Indonesia, most of which is to be spent at the summer palace in Bogor. His visit to the worldÂ’s biggest Muslim nation has triggered daily demonstrations, led by militant organisations and students angry over the US-led war in Iraq and its presence in Afghanistan.
During a mass rally in Jakarta on Sunday, the head of the militant Front for the Defender of Islam, Habib Rizieq, called on Muslims to kill Bush if they had the chance to do so. “His blood is halal (permitted under Islam) to be shed. Not only is it halal, but it is obligatory to kill him,” Rizieq told thousands of cheering demonstrators. |