Heavy security in Indonesia for Christians this Christmas

More than 17,000 police and soldiers have been deployed in the Indonesian capital to guard against a repeat of Christmas Eve attacks seven years ago, when Christian churches in the mainly Muslim nation were bombed.

There had been no intelligence reports of a possible attack by Islamic militants but police were taking no chances, Jakarta police spokesman Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said on Monday.

"We are anticipating any eventualities even though there are no indications of an attack," he said.

Police will check churchgoers' bags in some locations, another police officer said.

The coordinated bombings targeting churches on Christmas Eve in 2000 left 18 people dead nationwide.

The bombings and a series of other attacks that followed have been blamed on members of the Southeast Asian regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

Jakarta's police chief, Adang Firman, said extra security would be provided to bigger churches.

"The threat of terror is always present," he told Elshinta radio.

Volunteer groups, including members of Islamic mass organisations, will help police to ensure peaceful Christmas celebrations, said the Jakarta police spokesman.

The youth wing of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organisation in the world's most populous Muslim country, is deploying 15,000 members nationwide to guard Churches and other venues used by Christians during Christmas.

"We do this every year. We live in a diverse nation and we respect differences," the youth wing's chairman, Syaifullah Yusuf, was quoted as saying on the group's Web site.

Around 10 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Christian. Muslims make up about 85 percent of the population and while the vast majority are moderates, there is an active militant minority.

Police have arrested hundreds of militants linked to JI since the 2002 Bali bombings in which more than 200 people were killed.

There has not been a major attack since three suicide bombers blew themselves up in Bali in October, 2005, killing at least 20 people. But police and some analysts say Indonesia still faces a considerable threat from Islamic militants.