Downer told reporters after arriving in Jakarta on Thursday night that embassy staff members suffered only minor injuries. He attributed this to recent improvements in embassy security, including reinforcement of the outside wall and installation of shatterproof window glass.
The wounded were overwhelmingly Indonesian, though the Chinese Embassy reported that several of its nationals were also injured, officials said. The only seriously injured Australian was a 5-year-old girl.
Indonesian workers look through the shattered windows of a building in Jakarta's modern business district, much of which was damaged in the bombing.
(Beawiharta -- Reuters)
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Video: A bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta killed at least eight people.
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Andi Nugroho, 20, a police officer assigned to guard the Australian Embassy, said he had left his usual post at the front gate moments before the explosion.
"This is my luck," said Nugroho, who suffered a bruise above his right eye. "At that moment, I was thirsty, so I went inside to get a drink. All of a sudden something went boom." He said two of his fellow officers were killed.
John Kalangi, 45, a businessman from eastern Indonesia, had been inside with his wife and daughter applying for a visa when he heard the explosion. They covered their heads, then raced from the compound.
"I saw a man on a motorcycle, dead, and body parts all over the road," he said.
At nearby Metropolitan Medical Center -- located so close that the blast blew out many of its windows -- a list was taped to the marble entrance with 105 names of the wounded. Virtually all were Indonesian.
Outside the intensive care unit, Syeh Mabruri, 25, sat in a waiting room, his head and hand bandaged, his blue shirt torn and bloodstained. He had been standing beside the window of his office in a nearby building talking to his boss on a cell phone. The time on the digital display remained frozen at the moment of the explosion: 10:27 a.m.
"I'm so angry at whoever did this," he said. "I also feel angry at the government. This always happens."
The attack came 11 days before Megawati is to face a runoff election against her former chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The campaign has been largely peaceful, and until Thursday, terrorism had not figured as an issue.
The bombing also occurred as Indonesian prosecutors were preparing to open a new case against radical cleric Abubakar Baasyir, who has been named by Indonesian and foreign investigators as the head of Jemaah Islamiah.
Police have arrested dozens of Indonesian extremists in the Bali, Marriott and other terrorist incidents, including several captured in recent weeks. Security analysts said these recent arrests may have provided the information that prompted U.S. and Australian officials to release their new warnings.
Bachtiar said Thursday night that investigators had learned from suspects recently captured in central and eastern Java that militants were planning to carry out an attack.
Investigators have previously uncovered plans by Muslim militants to target the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. After the attack on the Australian mission, U.S. Embassy officials instructed some of their staff members to stay home Friday for security reasons, though the building will remain open for business.
Special correspondent Noor Huda Ismail contributed to this report.
