JAKARTA, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- International schools in Jakarta were closed Monday following warnings from the U.S. and Australia that they could be the target of terrorist attacks.
At least three of Jakarta's leading international schools shut Friday after the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade received information of the possibility of schools being targeted by terrorists.
The U.S. and Australian embassies said in notices to their nationals issued on Friday that they has received "credible information about possible targeting of schools" in Jakarta associated with Western interests.
"This information is being provided to the Indonesian security authorities and international school officials so that they may take appropriate action," the notice said.
However, Indonesian police played down on the threats, saying there was a lack of justification for the alert. Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said officers would meet with school officials to discuss the threat but added that there was nothing to worry about.
The Jakarta International School said on its Web site, in a message from Headmaster Niall Nelson: "Central to that decision (on when to reopen) will be the response of the government of Indonesia to embassy requests for a higher security presence at the various international schools in Jakarta."
There were reports of bomb threats received by several high-rise office buildings in Jakarta during the past several days, in particular since the Oct. 12 bombings in Bali. The calls were apparently hoaxes.
Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz on Monday criticized police searches of Islamic boarding schools as part of their investigation into the Bali blasts, urging the police to change their heavy-handed raids.
"I hope raids like the previous ones, which were not pleasant, will not happen again," Haz, a Muslim politician, said.
Over the past two weeks, police have repeatedly raided the al-Islam boarding school in East Java village of Tenggulun, in their search for suspects in the Bali explosions, in which some 180 people -- mostly foreign tourists -- died. Police arrested Amrozi, the first suspect in the bombings, two weeks ago in the same village, where his family founded the school. Police are looking for at least one of Amrozi's brothers, identified as Ali Imron, who is also a teacher of the boarding school.
