British Embassy evacuated in bomb alert

The British Embassy in the Indonesian capital has been evacuated after receiving a suspicious package, an embassy spokeswoman said today.

Police bomb squad officers were searching the grounds of the heavily fortified mission in central Jakarta.

“We have received a suspicious package and we have informed the police,” said embassy spokeswoman Faye Belnis.

“We have evacuated the embassy and then we are still waiting for further information from the police.”

No other information was immediately available.

The alert came as Indonesia’s president warned that terrorists were planning more attacks in the country and said he had ordered security services to step up surveillance.

“We know the terrorists cells are still active, they are still hiding, recruiting, networking, trying to find new funding and even planning … for another strike,” Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said today.

“Last night, I instructed the security minister, the head of the intelligence agency and the police chief to conduct more active operations into the detection and prevention (of the) act of terrorism that may happen this year … in the months of September and October,” he said in a speech to newspaper editors in Jakarta.

Indonesia has been hit by a string of terror attacks in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel and the September 2004 Australian Embassy which killed a total of 225 people.

The al Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the attacks.

Police said later the embassy's suspect package had turned out to be harmless.

It contained only prawn crackers, a Walkman and a pair of speakers, said police Lt Sulyanto. It was unclear who sent it to the embassy.

“The embassy thought the package seemed strange and we came to check it,” said Sulyanto, who goes by a single name.

Foreign embassies in Indonesia are on high alert because of the risk of attacks by Muslim militants.

The US closed diplomatic missions across Indonesia in May after a website offered chilling instructions on how to attack a US embassy with rocket launchers or a suicide bomb