Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Fresh new threats against Catholics have been made in Indonesia. The Bethlehem Catholic Church in the village of Puhsarang, Kediri (East Java province) recently received a telephone call warning of an imminent bomb threat. The Church is well-known among Catholics in Indonesia after the Puhsarang St Mary Shrine was elevated nearby at the foot of Mt Wilis

Kediri Police Chief Commsr Nursamsul said that Kiki, the Bethlehem Church phone operator, received a call from an unknown person saying that the church's compound would be attacked with a bomb at about 2.00 pm local time (9 pm GMT) .

"As soon as we got the information, our police squad rushed to the location to get the compound cleared off," explained Suyantono, Kediri Deputy Police Chief.

Some 21 police officers are currently working on the case.

The Puhsarang Church is not yet a full parish church—it is still under the Vincentius a Paulo Parish Church in downtown Kediri.

According to Father Sulistyo, who has chaired the city's parish church, this is not the first phone threat.

Security forces in East Java took the phone threat seriously and deployed an anti-terror police squad to 'sweep' the church clean.

Documents and intelligence reports had confirmed that the Azahari bin Husin, a terrorist who recently committed suicide to avoid capture by police, was planning a series of attacks against Catholic churches in Malang over the Christmas holiday.

Malang is a tourist resort area, some 80 km (50 miles) south of Surabaya, East Java's capital. It is also the home of many Catholic orders such as the Verbites and Carmelites.

Last week, Malang's Bishop spoke to AsiaNews about the terrorist threat against Catholic churches, which were supposed to be destroyed after the celebrations of the Idul Fitri (end of Ramadan), on November 3-4.

"The information was circumstantial," Mgr Herman Joseph Pandoyoputro said, "but it was confirmed by the security forces and an important Muslim leader".

Mt Carmel Cathedral in Jalan and St Anthony Parish Church in Pasuran were among the targets. For St Anthony it would have been the second time; on Christmas 2000 it was among five churches—in Jakarta and in other cities—hit by bombs attacks.