Just reading forum for the first time today and notice that some are asking clarification of "new alert" This is all I can find, apart from what I heard on the early news.
"Australia Issues Alert for Indonesia Citing Terrorism Threat
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Australia issued a travel alert for its citizens, saying they should avoid visiting Indonesia, in particular the island resort of Bali, because of a ''very high'' threat of terrorist attacks.
Intelligence reports suggest that Sunday, April 2 may be a potential date for an attack and targets may include places frequented by non-Indonesians, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on its web site. Such attacks ''could occur at any time,'' the department said.
''We continue to receive a stream of reporting indicating that terrorists are in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Western interests in Indonesia,'' the department said.
The Indonesian authorities blamed the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, for attacks in Indonesia, including bombings in 2002 in Bali that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians, and an attack on the island last October that killed 23 people.
Nine people were killed in a bomb attack outside Australia's embassy in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, in September 2004.
''Terrorist attacks against Westerners in Bali and Jakarta indicate that these areas are a priority target for terrorists in Indonesia,'' the department said. Australians are advised to ''reconsider your need to travel to Indonesia, including Bali.''
Terrorist Chief
Indonesia last week said it identified an Indonesian national with suspected links to the al-Qaeda network as the new leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported at the time.
The new chief is Abu Dujana, who had weapons training in Afghanistan and met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the ABC cited Colonel Petrus Golose, deputy commander of Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit, as saying
Dujana was a classmate of Hambali, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, the alleged head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Asia, who has been in U.S. custody since his capture in Thailand in 2003, Golose said, according to the ABC. Hambali, an Indonesian national, was suspected by the authorities of being Jemaah Islamiyah's chief operative.
Indonesian police last November killed Azahari Husin, an alleged mastermind of the 2002 and 2005 Bali attacks. Noordin Mohammad Top, another alleged organizer of the Bali bombings, remains at large.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net