Australia, which has already told its nationals to stay away from targets in Indonesia like hotels and shopping centres, said on Thursday that terror attacks could be launched there on Sunday, Indonesia's national day.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he feared a possible terror strike in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on August 17 to coincide with Indonesian national day celebrations.

"I am very concerned specifically about Jakarta. We've just had information there, the night before last, that there could be terrorist attacks on international hotels or shopping centres used by westerners, those kinds of targets," Downer said.

"The 17th of August is Indonesia's National Day, so it's a day where this sort of thing could happen," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

The United States and Australia, jittery after the bombing of a luxury Jakarta hotel last week, both warned their nationals on Wednesday to stay away from so-called soft targets in Indonesia like international hotels and shopping centres.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is trying to strengthen anti-terror laws introduced after nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali last October killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians.

Australia's top spy has warned that another "catastrophic" attack like the September 11, 2001 suicide plane attacks in New York and Washington is possible and that Australia, a staunch US ally, must consider itself a possible target.

That assessment has been backed by conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Downer first raised concerns about possible attacks on Indonesia's national day last week.

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