Indonesia says London blasts show nobody is immune

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia, the world’s most populous
Muslim nation, condemned the London blasts on Friday and said
they showed no country was immune from terrorism.

Four blasts tore through London underground trains and a
bus during morning rush hour on Thursday, killing at least 37
people and injuring 700, including an Indonesian.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the blasts
served as a warning to remain vigilant.

“With the bombings at several points above and under the
ground, this shows that acts of terrorism can happen anywhere
and anytime. No single country is immune,” he told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he hallmarks of
al Qaeda in the attacks on London’s mass transportation system.

Indonesia stepped up its own war on terrorism after Islamic
militants bombed nightclubs on the resort island of Bali in
2002, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Before that, foreign governments saw Indonesia as one of
the weakest links in the global fight against terrorism.

Indonesian authorities have blamed the al Qaeda-linked
Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant network for the Bali blasts and
for other recent terror attacks in the vast Asian country.

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of militants over
the attacks but are still hunting for Malaysians Azahari bin
Husin and Noordin Top, allegedly JI’s leading bombmaker and
recruiter.

Newly installed Indonesian police chief General Sutanto
said that manhunt is high on his list of priorities.

“We will keep on trying to arrest them but catching
terrorists is not easy,” he told reporters.

Charles Humfrey, the British ambassador in Indonesia, told
reporters that anti-terror cooperation between his government
and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration would
prevail.

“We welcome the very strong steps and the very … strong
statements that President Yudhoyono and other ministers have
made about the need to combat terrorism,” he said.

“And indeed, we welcome their statements of sympathy and
support and the condemnation of this latest terror act. We will
continue our cooperation.”