Eyewitness: Jakarta blast

By Rachel Harvey
BBC correspondent in Jakarta

Emergency teams rushed to the scene of the blast

I am now a couple of hundred metres back from the bomb site.

This was once one of Jakarta's most exclusive and busiest business districts.

Now it is a scene of utter devastation.

There are sirens going off in the background - fire engines, ambulances and police are everywhere.

A huge crowd has gathered here to try to find out what happened.

'Mangled remains'

There is a massive crater outside the Australian embassy. There is a green security fence and the crater is the other side of that.

The centre of the blast was the road just in front of the Australian embassy, but office blocks on either side of the eight-lane highway have been severely damaged.

I can see half a dozen with windows blown out.

Glass, concrete and metal lie strewn across the ground.

There are mangled remains of cars and motorbikes that were thrown up into the air by the force of the blast.

Eyewitnesses saw two bodies being carried away. I have seen body parts on the ground.

The police have now sealed off the area to allow investigators to sift through the debris looking for evidence.