Singer Rihanna drops Indonesia show over security

Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:46pm EST
 
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JAKARTA (Reuters) - Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna has canceled a sold-out concert in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday because of security concerns, event organizers said.

Indonesia has been on alert in case of reprisals after three Islamist militants were executed early this week for their parts in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

"The reason is because the security situation in Indonesia is not conducive," said Dive Poernomo, a spokeswoman for Showmaster Live, the event organizer.

She also said that neighboring Australia had reissued a travel warning urging its citizens to reconsider plans to visit Indonesia because of the threat of attacks after the executions of the Bali bombers.

After Friday's last-minute cancellation of the Jakarta leg of the "Good Girl Gone Bad" tour, the event organizer said it hoped to hold another concert in January.

All 6,000 tickets for Friday's concert by the 20-year-old singer, some costing up to 2.5 million rupiah ($215), had been sold out, another official at the event organizer said.

Although there have been no major bomb attacks since 2005, Indonesia is considered still at risk.

($1=11650 Rupiah)

(Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Ed Davies)

 

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