Bomb Hits Embassy In Paris

A bomb exploded outside the Indonesian Embassy in Paris on Friday, slightly injuring nine people, authorities said, in what was the first terror attack to strike the French capital in years.

French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said a rigged package exploded beneath the flag that hangs from a balcony at the embassy in Paris' exclusive 16th district, not far from the Eiffel Tower.

Villepin described the explosive device as "a bomb of medium strength."

The blast also damaged cars and created a small crater in front of the embassy, which was blocked off by police shortly after the 5 a.m. local time (midnight ET) explosion.

Most of the injured were hurt by flying glass, the interior minister said. Three of the injured were embassy staff members and lived in the basement of the building. They were treated and released from local hospitals, according to Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta.

Shattered glass carpeted the street for at least 30 yards. Windows as high as the top fourth floor of the embassy were blown out, and chunks of stone were blown from the embassy wall where the package was placed.

French authorities were at a loss to explain why the embassy was targeted. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"To our knowledge, there were no specific threats," Villepin said. "But the investigation will allow us to verify this."

Villepin also noted the overnight attacks in Egypt, but he was careful not to draw any links between the two attacks.

Europe-1 radio said security was being reinforced throughout the French capital.

The anti-terrorism unit of the Paris prosecutor's office and the police department's anti-terrorist brigade are conducting an investigation, officials told The Associated Press.

Authorities in Jakarta said they were prepared to send investigators to Paris. Police Maj. Gen. Dadang Garnida said officers "were coordinating with Interpol and are prepared to send a team if needed" to help with the investigation.

Telephone calls to Interpol in Lyon, France were not immediately returned.

A woman who lives near the embassy said she heard a loud noise and immediately thought it was a bomb.

"I had the impression that I was being hurled from my apartment," said Annie Mayret. Windows from her residence were blown out by the strong force of the explosion. She said the blast set off the alarms in boutiques in the area.

Other witnesses said the explosion was so strong that it caused nearby apartment buildings to shake.

French President Jacques Chirac said his government would use every available means to track down those responsible for the attack. He spoke from Hanoi, Vietnam, where he is attending an Asia-Europe summit.

The last major terrorist attacks in the French capital occurred when Paris was hit by a wave of deadly subway bombings in 1995 and 1996 — mainly the work of Algerian Islamic radicals.

Algerian extremists were also allegedly behind a plot to attack a Christmas market at the Strasbourg Cathedral on New Year's Eve 2000. And so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid is serving a life sentence in the United States for trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight with explosive-stuffed sneakers in December 2001.

Foreign Minister Michel Barnier went to the embassy to survey the damage.

"This reinforces our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms," he said, adding that "no person and no city is safe" from this kind of attack.

By midmorning, city workers were seen sweeping the glass from the sidewalks. Firefighters were trying to determine whether buildings next to the embassy were damaged.

Indonesia is home to two separatist rebel armies, one of which — the Free Aceh Movement — has been blamed by authorities for several small bombings in the country in recent years.

The group, which is fighting for independence for the western province of Aceh, maintains a government in exile in Sweden. Scores of its members have fled Indonesia since 1976.

The blast in Paris comes four days before the second anniversary of the terror bombing at nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, blamed on the al Qaeda-allied Jemaah Islamiyah group. The attack killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

On Sept. 9, Jemaah Islamiyah suicide bombers detonated a car bomb outside Australia's Embassy in Indonesia, killing nine people.

Indonesia will inaugurate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as its new president on Oct. 20, following President Megawati Sukarnoputri's defeat in an election last month.

Yudhoyono, a retired general who led the post-Bali crackdown on terrorism, told reporters "we are very concerned about this act of aggression against our embassy in France."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, opposed the war in Iraq and has been a vocal critic of the U.S. occupation. Indonesia has locked up more than 150 Muslim militants in the past two years.
By Elaine Ganley