The Indonesian police Thursday sent the bomb disposal unit to the US Embassy compound in Jakarta after receiving text messages whose sender read as Al Qaida and threatened to explode the embassy.

"We received two text messages whose sender claimed to be Al Qaida. We immediately sent the bomb disposal unit to the US Embassy," Jakarta deputy police chief Herry Wibowo was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying.

Police have arrested several people for sending bomb hoaxes through telephone or text messages in the last few years.

Earlier this week, a man was arrested after proof that he sent a bomb hoax to the central bank. The man said he did so as a joke.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2007)