JAKARTA - THE US and Australian embassies in Indonesia received bomb threats on Tuesday amid a security crackdown ahead of the imminent execution of three Islamists convicted over the Bali bombings, police said.

A US embassy spokesman confirmed that a threat had been received and was being taken seriously. 'We are working closely with the Indonesian police', he said.

Extremists descend on village TENGGULUN (Indonesia) - ISLAMIC extremists descended on the village of two bombers behind deadly 2002 attacks on the Indonesian island of Bali on Tuesday in a show of defiance against their impending execution. Around 30 skullcap-wearing radicals arrived by convoy at dawn in the sleepy coastal village that was home to condemned bombers Amrozi, 47, and Mukhlas, 48, chanting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great). ... more

National police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said the threat was received through a telephone text message to police.

'We're investigating this to find out who sent the threat', he said.

He said it was being taken seriously although a similar threat against a shopping mall in Jakarta on Monday had proved to be a hoax.

Initial searches of the embassy compounds failed to find any bombs, the Detikcom news website reported, quoting police.

It said the text message read: 'I will pull the trigger (of the bomb) if Amrozi and his friends are executed', referring to the Bali bombers.

Security at the US and Australian embassies has been boosted amid fears of reprisal attacks after the execution.

Amrozi, 47, his brother Mukhlas, 48, and Imam Samudra, 38, are facing execution any day over the bombings of packed tourist nightspots which killed 202 people six years ago.

Security has been tightened across the mainly Muslim archipelago due to concerns about revenge attacks from Islamist fanatics and the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, which was allegedly behind the Bali carnage.

The Australian embassy spokesman was not available to comment. -- AFP