Embassy bombing linked to al-Qaida

AL-QAIDA-LINKED terrorists were being hunted in Indonesia last night after a car bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta killed nine people and wounded 160 in a devastating strike on a key US ally in the war in Iraq.

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.