Indonesia's police chief has revealed the same group that bombed the Australian embassy planned to assassinate Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri, three days before the presidential election. General Da'i Bachtiar revealed that the group also planned to kill Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, and a host of other foreign guests. The contingent were all attending the official opening of an Australian Indonesian Terrorism Investigation Centre in Semarang in Central Java on July 3. The Australian Government issued a special travel warning at the time of the opening but never revealed the intelligence behind the warning.
General Bachtiar said police mounted extra security ahead of the Semarang opening when they learnt of the planned attack and he believes it was that which stopped the bombing. "The Semarang attack was avoided because we really did increase the level of security," General Bachtiar said. "Because of the level of security, they changed their minds," he said. Asked if the attack was intended to assassinate Ms Megawati, he replied: "Yes ... there's no doubt because they intended to target the actual ceremony and yet it is a target and our President and not just her, we invited many foreign dignitaries." General Bachtiar also revealed that police raided a house near the airport in Jakarta a month ago but narrowly missed finding Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohamad Top, the Malaysian terrorists accused of carrying out the attack on Thursday. |