JI claims responsibility for blast: September 10, 2004 - 8:01AM; sydney morning herald

The al-Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiah has claimed responsibility for yesterday's car bomb attack outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed at least nine people and wounded 182, and warned of further attacks.

An Islamist web site, www.islamic-minbar.com, posted a statement saying: "We decided to settle accounts with Australia, one of the worst enemies of God and Islam, ... and a mujahideen brother succeeded in carrying out a martyr operation with a car bomb against the Australian embassy" in Jakarta. The authenticity of the claim could not be immediately verified. "It is the first of a series of attacks. ... We advise Australians in Indonesia to leave this country or else we will transform it into a cemetery for them," said the statement attributed to Jemaah Islamiah, which operates in South-East Asia and faults Australia for its military engagement in Iraq.

"We advise the Australian government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. If our demand is not satisfied, we will deal them many painful blows. The lines of booby-trapped cars will have no end," reads the text signed "Jemaah Islamiah in eastern Asia - department of information - Indonesia."

Yesterday's attack came two days before the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States and ahead of October 9 polls in Australia and a September 20 presidential vote in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.

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My boss from last year, a lovely women, was working there and I'm waiting to hear news of her. I know no australians were killed, but there are a lot of casualties.