Embassy might not be target of Paris explosion: Marty

JAKARTA. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he cannot yet confirm if Indonesians were the targets of an explosion near the country’s embassy in Paris, France, on Wednesday morning local-time.

“The blast occurred near the embassy — I didn’t say ‘bomb’. I can’t yet conclude whether the perpetrators had targeted the embassy in the first place,” Marty said at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.

“We have cooperated with the Paris police to secure the embassy and to investigate the explosion.”

The explosion caused only minor damage and no one was injured. The embassy had yet to open when the incident happened at around 5 a.m.

An embassy staffer reportedly saw a suspicious package on the sidewalk outside the embassy and stepped away from it moments before it exploded.

Marty said that the Indonesian ambassador to France and all the embassy staffers were now inside the embassy and were following police instructions.

“They are making sure that all Indonesians living in Paris are safe and able to get information they need,” he said, adding that they also warned Indonesians to stay alert.

The explosion at the embassy is the second in recent years, after a parcel bomb exploded outside the embassy in 2004, injuring 10. (Rangga D. Fadilah and Margareth S. Aritonang/ The Jakarta Post)