Police are on a high state of alert in a predominantly Christian province of East Timor after an Islamic group threatened an attack on local churches to coincide with New Year's Eve celebrations.

According to Asia News, a cellphone text message received Wednesday by radio Timor Voice read: "On New Year Eve, 31 churches in [East Tenggara Timor's] capital of Kupang shall receive the same bomb blasts as Bali did last October. [Signed:] From the Jemaah Islamiiyah Chief of the eastern region, Jihad for the Great Prophet Muhammad."

Provincial Police Chief Robert Bellarminus Sadarum said the threat must be considered "a serious and imminent danger" for the whole Christian community.

But the local chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas Council strongly denied claims the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiiyah is operating in the province.

Nevertheless, according to Asia News, security officials have deployed about 2,250 soldiers and police officers, and Sadarum said "tighter security will be imposed around churches on New Year Eve."

Asia News said Indonesia's Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Widodo Adi Sutjipto, has warned of possible terrorist attacks in the next week.

His office is probing possible links between terrorism and recent bank robberies in the cities of Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Tangerang.

Proceeds from the robberies could finance terrorist activities, he said, to make up for a shortfall in foreign contributions.

The 2002 Bali bombing was preceded by a major robbery, noted retired Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, who now heads the Anti-Terrorism Unit in the Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry.

As WorldNetDaily reported in 2001, more than 2,000 people died in three years of clashes in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province before a peace agreement was reached between Muslim and Christian leaders.

An Islamic terrorist group called Laskar Jihad threatened to eliminate Christians from the region but was held off by government troops.

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