The Indonesian Embassy in Paris escaped major damage early Wednesday morning thanks to an alert employee who spotted a suspicious package in time to distance the bomb from the building.
The package exploded shortly after 5:00 a.m., coinciding with the arrival in Israel of the bodies of the four victims of Monday's suspected Al Qaeda attack on a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse.
Several windows were broken due to the blast at the embassy building, located in an elegant neighborhood in the western part of the French capital.
"We are obviously deeply concerned by the explosion which occurred earlier this morning at our embassy in Paris,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Nevertheless, the foreign minister said the embassy would continue operations as usual, commenting that it was too early to say whether the blast was linked to the attacks by a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist on Jewish and Muslim targets over the past week.
Three French soldiers, all Muslims of North African and Carribean ancestry, were also murdered in two attacks in the southern French city of Montauban last week.
"We've yet to ascertain whether the bomb was actually directed against the Indonesian embassy, or whether it was took place there by coincidence,” the Indonesian official noted.
The bodies of Rabbi Yonatan Sandler, his two young sons ages 3 and 6, and the 8-year-old daughter of the principal of the Otzar HaTorah day school were flown to Israel for burial. They arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport at about the same time the Indonesian Embassy was attacked in Paris.
Over the weekend, two Paris synagogues received threatening letters saying, “You are the people of Satan. Hell is waiting for you.” One of the letters was received on Monday morning.
In addition New York police have tightened security at some 40 synagogues and other Jewish institutions around the city in response to the attack and other “events abroad.”