JAKARTA, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll from an explosion near the Australian Embassy here Thursday is feared to soar with three people confirmed dead so far.

    One of the three was identified as Anton Sujarwo, a security guard with the Australian Embassy.

    Witnesses said they found a severe head and body parts on the Rasuna Said street near the embassy.

    National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar and Jakarta Police Chief Firman Ghani immediately halted a meeting with legislators and visited the scene upon hearing the news, but neither of them delivered a statement.

    The death toll will probably exceed that of the bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel, a local radio said.

    The bomb attack on Marriott in August 2000 killed 12 people.

    Two local hospitals reported to Metro TV they have received at least 50 injured people.

    The bombing site was soon blockaded by security officers for fear of other explosions. The blast took place at 10:30 local time(03:30 GMT) and its sound and shock were felt from the Xinhua office of Jakarta Bureau, some 5 km from the scene.

    The Australian Embassy is located at the Kuningan Business Center, a place for a number of foreign embassies, supermarkets, hotels and apartments.

    It remains unknown the cause of the explosion but local TV and radio stations said a car bomb was exploded near the embassy.

    The powerful blast smashed glass windows of buildings within the range of 500 meters from the Australian Embassy.

    The Indonesian police blamed regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah for the October 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people,and the Marriott bombing. More than 35 men implicated with both attacks have been convicted, with three getting capital punishment.

    Earlier Wednesday, the Indonesian police warned of terror attacks in the days surrounding the presidential election scheduled for Sept. 20.

    The US State Department also has issued a travel warning for Indonesia on suspicion of possible attacks on places frequented by westerners during the commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on US cities. Enditem

Body parts found near Australian embassy in Jakarta blast     

    JAKARTA, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) - Body parts were found near the Australian embassy in Central Jakarta minutes after a powerful explosion at 10:30 local time Thursday.

    Eyewitness reported the gate of the embassy was completely destroyed and a security guard of the embassy was among the early death toll confirmed at three so far.

    A witness said that he saw five policemen and three security guards outside the embassy and three police officers inside the embassy compound were lying down after the blast, all suffering serious injuries.

    "When the explosion took place, there were some 15 people in line for visa in the yard of the building and three of them are westerners," said the witness, identified as Alex Hutabarat, 21. Enditem