At least eight people are dead and more than 160 injured after a powerful car bomb rocked central Jakarta near the Australian embassy Thursday morning, Indonesia time.
A spokesperson for Australia's foreign ministry said no one in the embassy was injured from the blast, adding that windows of the embassy building were shattered and that power was shut down in the structure.
Indonesian police officials said Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group linked to al-Qaida, was apparently behind the blast and that the bomb was likely the work of Azahari Husin, a reputed Jemaah Islamiyah member who has been eluding authorities for three years.
The blast comes ahead of elections in Indonesia and in Australia, where the prime minister is running on a pro-American, anti-terror platform.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the Aug. 5, 2003, suicide bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.