Indonesia on terror alert

Indonesia, which has world's largest Muslim population, was on high alert in the wake of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, authorities said. Terrorism experts, however, told the Melbourne Herald-Sun they didn't expect any major reprisals in the country. In Jakarta, police allowed a mass prayer for bin Laden organized by the hard-line Islam Defenders Front at its headquarters in Tanah Abang in the central section of the city. Police spokesman Baharudin Djafar said the group did not need to seek permission to hold the event, the Jakarta Post reported. "It's an ordinary Koran recital. We can't stop people from praying," he said. Writing in the Jakarta Post, Sidney Jones, senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, said bin Laden was being hailed as a hero and martyr by radical groups in Indonesia with demonstrations planned against the United States. Jones said one consequence of such protests could be a temporary shift to foreign targets after two years when Indonesian extremists had moved away from attacks on the West.