Bomb blast before Bush visit

A bomb exploded at an American fast food restaurant in the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation today, seriously wounding one person believed to be carrying the device, police and witnesses said.

Indonesia has been hit by a series of deadly bombings by al-Qaida-linked militants, separatists and criminal gangs in recent years, and police said it was too early to speculate on the motive.

But its timing - just over a week before a planned visit by US President George W Bush - was likely to add to security jitters in the country.

The lunchtime blast cracked a window and shattered lamps at the A&W burger restaurant in an eastern Jakarta shopping mall rarely visited by foreigners.

A restaurant employee said staff had seen a man outside the eatery who looked seriously ill, and brought him inside to offer him food or medicine. A small bomb then fell from his bag and went off, said A&W cashier Sofyan, who uses only name.

Bush is scheduled to make a brief stopover in Indonesia - seen as a close ally in Washington's war on terror - on November 20 after attending an APEC meeting in Vietnam.

Security will be tight, with some 20,000 soldiers and police deployed for his 10-hour visit and reports that all mobile phone lines and Internet access will be cut.