JAKARTA (AFP) - Investigators hunting extremists who are believed to be plotting more attacks after the Australian embassy blast in Jakarta said they were closing in on the owners of a truck used to deliver the bomb.
The national police chief in Australia, which has forensic teams probing Thursday`s blast in which nine people died, said detectives have identified the truck`s chassis number, a clue that could help track those behind the attack.
Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Monday that similar information about a vehicle used in the October 2002 Bali bombings proved vital in catching those who carried out the attack which killed 202 people.
"In the last few days the chassis number of the vehicle used in the bombings has been discovered," Keelty said on Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
"People might recall that that was one of the early leads in the Bali bombing that led to the identification of those responsible, so we are hoping that that will be the case on this occasion," he said.
Indonesia`s national detective Chief Suyitno Landung said the previous owners of the truck had already been interviewed.
Australian and Indonesian authorities have blamed the attack on extremists believed associated with Jemaah Islamiyah, a radical Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian Islamic group blamed for the Bali bombings and numerous other strikes.
Keelty said that as long as two top suspects -- Malaysian explosives experts Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top -- were at large, there was always the potential for more attacks both in Indonesia and inside Australia.
Both countries are readying for national elections and it is feared the terrorists could be trying to disrupt the votes. One unverified claim of responsibility said Thursday`s attack was a signal for Australia to pull its troops from Iraq -- a key election issue.
Indonesia`s President Megawati Sukarnoputri said she was putting her country on "full alert", deploying 200,000 personnel to sensitive locations during the September 20 presidential election.
Security is already heavy at Western embassies, hotels and other potential targets around Jakarta after warnings the extremists were planning a follow-up strike.
In another development, Keelty said latest estimates put the toll from the embassy bombing at 10, including seven men and two women, all of whom had been identified as Indonesians. More than 180 people were hurt.
He said it was possible the 10th person was the suicide bomber, which meant there was only one attacker and not two or more as originally thought. Indonesian police said the toll remained at nine but one survivor remained in critical condition.
"But the difficulty with this sort of investigation is we need DNA samples from the body parts, to be graphic about it, so final confirmation of that 10th person may not come for some time yet," Keelty said.
Indonesian national police chief Da`i Bachtiar said detectives had uncovered letters in which men suspected of taking part in the bombing had written of their intentions.
"We have found letters for their parents which said that they were going to carry it out," he said.
Bachtiar said police had traced the suspected bombers to accommodation near Jakarta where traces of explosives had been found. Earlier arrests had also yielded the names of men believed to have been recruited for suicide attacks.
Australia said it would move its embassy in Jakarta to a more secure location. The country has announced a huge increase in security at home and abroad in response to last week`s bombing.
In Malaysia, Defence Minister Najib Razak said his country was cooperating with Indonesia against terrorism and was still hunting Malaysians Noordin and Azahari.
"They are individuals and they are alleged terrorists and alleged (members of regional terror group) Jemaah Islamiyah," Najib told reporters.