Australia's main political parties have suspended campaigning for next month's general election as a result of yesterday's terrorist bombing at the Australian embassy in Jakarta which killed at least nine people and injured as many as 180.
Charred debris, bodies and body parts, glass and the twisted wreckage of motorcycles, cars and a truck littered the road outside the embassy after the blast, which tore off the glass fronts of nearby office towers, wounding many office workers.
Jakarta's Metropolitan Medical Centre, five doors from the embassy, was overrun with casualties. Bruised, bloodied and bandaged victims were lying on stretchers, slumped in chairs or wandering around, shocked and confused by what had happened to them.
"It's crazy here," said one nurse, Sri Rudiawati. "We have treated more than 50 people in about 45 minutes and still they are coming. I don't know how much longer we can go on like this."
Voting in Indonesia's presidential election takes place on September 20th, and the incumbent Indonesian President, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, pledged to track down those responsible for the bombing. She broke off a trip to Brunei to fly back to Jakarta and, after a visit to the site and to blast victims in a nearby hospital, called on Indonesians not to panic.
Indonesia has convicted scores in previous bombing cases, but some said Thursday's attack proved it needed to do more.
"To destroy a terrorist group you must destroy everything: propaganda, fund-raising, everything," said Mr Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based expert on al-Qaeda.
Indonesia's intelligence chief, Hendropriyono, said the country's anti-terrorism laws were too weak.
Police said the attack bore all the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, an al-Qaeda-linked militant Islamic network blamed for previous blasts in Indonesia, such as the Bali bomb attacks in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.It wants to set up a pan-Islamic state in south-east Asia.
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, expressed outrage. "This is not a nation that is going to be intimidated by acts of terrorism," he said in Melbourne.
Mr Howard said it was too early to say if yesterday's attack was prompted by Australia's involvement in the Iraq war or by the election campaign. The prime minister also played down fears of a terrorist attack within Australia before the October 9th poll.
While all of those who died in the bombing were Indonesians, the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, insisted: "You would have to conclude that it was directed towards Australia."
Both the Liberal/National Coalition government and Labour cancelled planned election campaign events for today. The Labour leader, Mr Latham, will also not campaign tomorrow to mark the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks. - (Additional reporting by Reuters)
