An explosion outside the Australian embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta has killed at least eight people.
Many more casualties are feared as at least 100 injured people have been admitted to hospital.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said 'up to six people are believed dead and the evidence indicated the explosion was caused by a car bomb.'
Jakarta Police chief Inspector General Firman Gani told The Jakarta Post that the explosion was 'mostly caused by a suicide car bomb using high explosive.'
'We found a chunk of human torso across the street from the embassy,' Firman was quoted as telling The Jakarta Post. 'The bomb was a high explosive one although we do not know yet what substances were used.'
The Jakarta Post said the 'police found at least four bodies inside cars and motorcycles near the explosion centre.'
Australian newspapers reported that none of the embassy staff was injured in the explosion which occurred at 10.30 am local time. Embassy staff were evacuated from the site.
CNN said the explosion was heard 10 kilometres away and was far bigger in scale than the Augusr 2003 blast which killed 12 people at the J W Marriot hotel, located in the same area of Kuningan in south Jakarta.
ABC News Online reported that 'So massive was the explosion that there is no evidence apart from a water-filled crater of the vehicle that carried a bomb.'
The Jakarta Post said 'the explosion created a crater of 30 metres by 30 metres which is larger than the crater created by the J W Marriott hotel bombing of 20 metres by 20 metres.'
Two years ago in October 2002, 202 people were killed in Bali, also in Indonesia, 88 of them Australian.
Australia's department of foreign affairs and trade has asked Australians to 'defer non-essential travel to Indonesia.' It also warned Australians to stay away from the Jakarta embassy until further notice.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will travel to Jakarta later today, accompanied by a team of bomb experts and doctors.
Jemaah Islamiah, the Indonesian terror organisation which is part of Al Qaeda and executed both the Bali and J W Marriott hotel bombings, is suspected to be behind Thursday's attack.
Car bombs and motorcyle bombs are Jemaah Islamiah's preferred mode of spreading terror.
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