Jakarta – Police arrested two men who they believed had planned a grenade attack on a Muslim gathering attended by President Suharto last weekend, the state Antara news agency reported yesterday. Chief of the City Police Detectives, Colonel Paimin Aboemr, said on Friday that police had been tipped off about the plot.

They raided the homes of Saleh Abdullah, 37, and Abdul Aziz Umar Madhie, 31, last Sunday, and found two South Korean-made hand grenades.

He said the duo had planned to use them at a gathering at the national monument in Central Jakarta.

Thousands of people, including Mr Suharto and Vice-President Try Sutrisno, had gathered there to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month.

Added Col Paimin: "We are disclosing the case only today because if we had done so on the day we discovered it, the general public would have been deeply disturbed." – AFP.