JAKARTA (AFP)- Indonesian police staged a reconstruction of events leading up to a deadly suicide bomb attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta as an intense manhunt continued for extremists believed to be planning a second attack.
A small white van identical to the vehicle used to deliver the blast that killed nine people and injured about 180 in Thursday`s attack, was placed in front of the embassy in the hope of shedding more light on the investigation.
Meanwhile police have redoubled efforts to track down suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah group believed to be behind the embassy strike. It is feared they are recruiting for a follow up attack on the Indonesian capital.
Thursday`s blast, ahead of elections in Australia and Indonesia, has purportedly been claimed by Jemaah Islamiyah -- blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings -- as a warning to Canberra to pull troops out of Iraq.
Australia has announced heavy security measures in response to the threat, while potential targets including Western embassies, hotels, commercial centres and transport hubs around Jakarta have been placed on high alert.
Police hoped Sunday`s reconstruction using the white van would help them determine how the vehicle was blown apart, giving new clues on the assembly of the bomb, suspected to be the work of fugitive Malaysian extremists.
"It is a reconstruction to see which parts have been found and which have been pulverised by the blast," said police spokesman Brigadier General Sunarko Danu Ardanto.
A security video of the explosion released Saturday by police shows the van driving past the embassy gates and exploding in a blinding flash. As thick smoke clouds the view, survivors are seen running to avoid falling debris.
Forensic teams at the scene of the attack and in a Jakarta hospital were Sunday still engaged in the gruesome task of reassembling body parts to determine whether two unidentified bodies among the nine dead were the bombers.
Police said they have the names of several men believed to have been recruited by Azahari Husin and Noordin Muhammad Top, two Malaysian explosives experts who detectives say may have assembled the bomb.
Suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members Husin and Top are wanted by the police for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people and an attack on Jakarta`s Marriott hotel last August in which 12 people died.
National police chief Da`i Bachtiar on Saturday said detectives were trying to match the DNA of body parts with those of family members of several men that police suspect of having been recruited for the bombing operation.
Bachtiar said the Malaysians had been tracked to Jakarta`s outskirts, where explosives matching the embassy bomb had been found. He said they could be recruiting for another strike.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, who flew to Jakarta with Foreign Minister Alexander Downer after the blast, has also warned of more suicide attacks.
In Australia Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said that Australia`s military involvement in Iraq may have helped make it a terror target ahead of October 9 elections.
Prime Minister John Howard has vowed to maintain his country`s commitment in Iraq, however his election rival, Labor leader Mark Latham has promised to withdraw an 850-strong contingent from the region if he wins the polls.