A POWERFUL car bomb exploded outside the gates of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta yesterday, killing nine people and wounding nearly 100 in an attack police blamed on al-Qaida-linked terrorists.

Al-Qaida-linked fanatics were being hunted in Indonesia tonight after a car bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta killed nine people and wounding 160 in a devastating strike on a key US ally in the war in Iraq.

An Indonesian court today sentenced a Muslim militant to 10 years in jail for helping plan last year’s Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta, but acquitted him of involvement in the 2002 Bali attacks.

AN INDONESIAN court sentenced a Malaysian militant to three years in jail yesterday in connection with the 2002 Bali bombings and an attack last year on Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel.

Police publicly identified nine suspects today in the August 5 attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and wounded nearly 150.