Bomb attacks less likely in Indonesia: Vice President

Terrorists will find it very difficult now to strike Indonesia with their bombs as many bomb- makers have been arrested, Vice President Jusuf Kalla claimed Tuesday.

"I believe it is not that very easy for the recurrence (of bomb attacks) in Indonesia, besides police have become professional," he was quoted by the national Antara news agency as saying.

"I think (bomb attacks) are no longer common."

He made the remarks to respond questions from local journalists over bombings that have regularly rocked the country between August and October since 2002.

"Top terrorist like Dr. Azahari has been eliminated. Noordin Moh Top is being hunted everywhere and many of his bomb experts are already in custody," he said when visiting the police anti- terror academy in the Central Java capital of Semarang.

He referred to Malaysian-born bomb expert Azahari who was killed in a police raid last November and his compatriot Noordin who remains at large.

Both are the suspected brains behind the nightclub bombings in Bali in November 2002, the car bombing in the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, the car bombing near the Australian embassy in September 2004 and the triple suicide bombings in three packed restaurants on Bali island last October.

More than 240 people were killed in those attacks.

Source: Xinhua