Al-Qaida link group suspected in bomb blast

AL-QAIDA-linked fanatics were being hunted in Indonesia last night after a car bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta killed nine people and wounded 160.

The bombing the first attack linked to regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah in more than a year could affect the Australian elections, in which Prime Minister John Howard is running on a pro-American, anti-terror platform in a tight race.

The blast, which left body parts and bloody corpses strewn across the busy road, was also a reminder of the continuing threat of terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation, despite a slew of arrests and convictions.