Bali denies warning of New Year's Eve attack

Tourists walk past an Indonesian policeman standing guard in Nusa Dua, Bali island resort, ahead of Bali Democracy Forum conference December 9, 2009.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The Indonesian resort island of Bali faces a risk of attack on New Year's Eve, a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy quoted the island's governor as saying, but the governor's office denied making any such comment.

Bombs detonated by Islamic militants targeting bars popular with Westerners on Bali killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in 2002. Three years later, suicide bombers killed 20 people on the island.

"There is an indication of an attack to Bali tonight," the U.S. statement quoted Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika as saying in a message distributed by the Bali Tourism Board.

The statement attributed to the tourism board added: "But please don't panic, but put your security system to full alert."

The U.S. statement also issued a warning from its Consular Information Sheet.

"While Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts have been ongoing and partly successful, violent elements have demonstrated a willingness and ability to carry out deadly attacks with little or no warning."

Putu Suardika, head of public relations at the office of the Bali governor, denied that the governor had issued a warning.

"No, he never said that, either in writing or verbally," Suardika told Reuters. "We never put out any warning either written or spoken. Of course we in Bali, because we have had two bombs in the past, have to remain on alert."

Officials at the Bali Tourism Board could not be contacted, but a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said the statement was a direct quote from the governor of Bali.

"As we understand it, the governor's message had been issued widely to the tourism board and hotels and we felt that it was a serious enough message that we could not send it out. We were relaying the message verbatim," said spokeswoman Corina Sanders.

The hundreds of hotels, restaurants and clubs in Bali will be packed on Thursday night, with tourism the mainstay of the economy in the Hindu enclave.

The resort of Kuta with its long stretch of beach for surfing is particularly popular with young Australians.

Bali police spokesman Gde Sugianyar said police were not aware of a threat and always tried to ensure security was as tight as possible.

"There is no initial indication so far. Everything is running well and secure in Bali.

"For us, we don't consider whether there is any threat or not but we have been preparing security for the New Year's Eve to be as tight as it can."

He said police planned to close some roads given the volume of tourists expected.

Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant, Malaysian-born Noordin Mohammad Top, who set up a violent splinter group of regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java in September.

Top was widely considered the mastermind of the Bali attacks, as well as bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta in July.

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Nick Macfie)