Indonesia Searches For Bomber

Indonesian police said on Wednesday they would check all guests, especially Filipinos, in every hotel in Jakarta in their hunt for those behind a deadly bomb blast outside the Manila ambassador's home.

"I have ordered the Jakarta police to check all guests in all hotels in Jakarta, especially persons coming from our northern neighbor," said the national police chief, Gen. Rusdihardjo, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Indonesian police and the military promised to tighten security at foreign embassies and the offices of multinational companies in Jakarta.

Armed forces commander Adm. Widodo Adisutjipto said security had been stepped up after the explosion Tuesday that killed two people and injured Philippine Ambassador Leonides Caday. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which 18 other people besides Caday were wounded, two critically. Police said they had no leads so far.

"I have ordered all security agencies to intensify security at all embassies and international offices in Jakarta," Widodo said before meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid.

There were no obvious signs of large troop or police deployments in the capital, which has about 11 million residents.

Wahid has said he suspected Tuesday's blast was linked to separatist Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada said on Wednesday he had a strong suspicion about who was behind the attack. "The ugly head of terrorist forces has taken the lives and injured hardworking diplomatic representatives of the Philippines," he said in a statement from the United States, where he is on a visit.

Estrada said he was awaiting reports on the blast from the Indonesian government and the Philippine intelligence services. "I have a very strong suspicion as to who is behind this, but I will reserve final judgment until the above reports are received," he said in the statement released in Manila.

Earlier, Estrada's Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Ambassador Leonides Caday, who was wounded in the blast, had told her that he believed he was the target and thought he knew who was responsible. Arroyo said Caday, who was in stable condition after an operation, believed the attack was by a Filipino not based in Jakarta.

Hundreds of workers were evacuated from an office block in central Jakarta on Wednesday after a bomb threat.

Another senior officer told reporters staff and visitors at the Philippine embassy would also be investigated.

The bombing, involving an estimated 44 pounds of explosives, was the worst attack on diplomats in Indonesia since 1986 when rockets were fired at the U.S. and Japanese embassies and missed; there were no injuries or damage.

Hundreds of people have been killed since March when the Philippines military launched an offensive against Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, rebels fihting for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Catholic country.

The MILF denied any involvement in the Jakarta blast.

On Wednesday, the normally busy road outside the ambassador's house, in the plush suburb of Menteng, remained closed as police sifted through the devastation for clues. Menteng is home to several senior diplomats and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri's house is only a few hundred yards from Caday's.

The southern Philippines in only a short boat ride away from Indonesia, and there have been accusations that Islamic fighters there might be supplying arms to like-minded Indonesian groups.

There is speculation that if the attack was not related to the strife in the Philippines, or personally aimed at Caday, it might have been meant to create fear ahead of a meeting of Indonesia's top legislature next week.

A bomb blast also damaged the attorney general's office in Jakarta last month. No one was injured.

There are already fears that protests expected during the Aug. 7-18 meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly may become violent.

Last year, shots were fired at a car carrying Australia's ambassador to Indonesia in the East Timor capital, Dili, soon after the territory voted to split from Indonesia.