Australian embassy bomb kills nine

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.

The blast flattened the embassy’s gate, mangled cars on the busy commercial street and shattered the windows of nearby high-rise buildings. Dazed survivors desperately tried to locate colleagues and relatives.

A senior Indonesian police officer who asked not to be identified said nine people died in the blast, including three policemen guarding the building.