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Website sparks scare; US shuts Indonesia missions

May 27, 2005 21:07 IST

The United States closed diplomatic missions across Indonesia a day after a website offered chilling instructions on how to attack a US embassy with rocket launchers or a suicide bomb, along with a diagram that purports to identify the ambassador's office.

US officials declined to say whether their decision to shutter the fortress-like embassy in central Jakarta on Thursday was linked to the Indonesian-language site, though a private security analyst claimed that it was.

In an e-mailed statement, American officials said the threat of terrorism in Indonesia "remains high."

The diagram was posted on a web page using a free domain provider in the Pacific island of Nauru. The provider, .co.nr, is among many such suppliers that allow anyone with a valid email account to create a web page, often without verifying the identity of the author.

According to information registered with .co.nr, the page was first posted early Wednesday. The registered owner's country is listed as Malaysia.

The site was periodically unavailable on Friday, but a worker at .co.nr said in an email it had no immediate plans to
terminate the site's account.

Under the banner "Brigade Istimata International," the site shows a floor plan with labels that describes an ambassador's office, staff room and the locations of cameras and metal detectors.

The page doesn't specify that the plan is the embassy in Jakarta, and it wasn't clear if the plan was accurate for any US embassy.

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