Reactions
Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed his "utter dismay at this event" and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said, "this was aimed at the Australian Embassy, there's no question of that" and that the investigators' "suspicions turn to Jemaah Islamiah".
It is unclear whether the incident was intended to influence either of the two upcoming regional elections:the final stage of the Indonesian presidential elections scheduled for 20 September, or the Australian elections scheduled for 9 October.
The then Australian Opposition Leader Mark Latham said "The terrorists responsible for this attack are evil and barbaric and must be dealt with as harshly as possible and as quickly as possible" and committed the Labor Party's "full support to all efforts by the Australian and Indonesian governments to ensure that happens".
A grainy photograph of a white delivery van suspected of carrying the bomb and the attackers was released by Indonesian police. Minister Downer claimed that a mobile phone text message was sent to Indonesian authorities about 45 minutes before the bomb detonated, warning of attacks unless the leader of Jemaah Islamiah Abu Bakar Bashir was released, and said that the warning was not delivered to the Australian Federal Police until several hours after the bombing. Indonesian police denied receiving such a message.
This was the third recent major attack involving Australians or Australian targets in Indonesia, after the 2002 Bali bombing, and the 2003 J.W. Marriott Hotel bombing. The executors of that attack, Jemaah Islamiyah, were also head suspects for this bombing.
Read more about this topic: 2004 Australian Embassy Bombing In Jakarta
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