Top alert raised over service marking 10th anniversary of Bali bombings
Indonesia raises top security alert over threat to ceremony marking 10th anniversary of attacks
Indonesia declared its top security alert yesterday, citing "credible information" of a threat to a ceremony this week marking the 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings which killed 202 people.
Shrugging off the warning, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard vowed to attend tomorrow's service in Bali for the victims of suicide attacks against two packed nightspots on October 12, 2002, which included 88 Australians and 11 people from Hong Kong.
Indonesia's deadliest terror attack, by the Al-Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), opened an Asia front in the war on terrorism one year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States and dealt a morale-crushing blow to Australia.
"Based on credible information, the terrorists have planned to target the Bali bombing commemoration event with a terror attack," Bali deputy police chief I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said.
"Security at all entry points to Bali, such as airports and seaports, will be intensified," he said, adding that security was at the "highest level".
"We are taking extraordinary security measures following this threat," he said, after earlier announcing that 1,000 security personnel including snipers, heavily armed police commandos and intelligence agents had been deployed.