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JAKARTA, Dec 22 (AFP) - Indonesian police said Sunday they had deployed three quarters of their 270,000 personnel to protect churches over Christmas and the New Year against any terrorist attacks.

Nineteen people were killed in a series of bomb attacks on churches on the Christmas Eve in 2000.

"We are preparing for the worst. We will assign police officers and undercover personnel at churches," national police spokesman Zainuri Lubis told AFP, adding that 200,000 officers would be deployed for the festive seasons.

Clearance will be needed before churches can be used for mass on the Chrismas Eve, Lubis said, adding that personnel would also be on standby at shopping centers and places frequented by foreigners.

Fears of terrorist attacks have heightened after the horrific October 12 bombing in Indonesia's resort island of Bali, which killed more than 190 people, mostly foreigners.

However the police spokesman said there had not been any intelligence information on possible attacks over Christmas.

The Australian government on Friday warned its citizens to avoid Indonesia over the Christmas and New Year period because there was a high risk of terrorist attacks.

The United States' and British embassies in Jakarta also issued fresh statements advising its nationals to be wary of any terror attacks.

"The potential for additional bombings in places such as restaurants, businesses, shopping centers, entertainment complexes and churches is particularly high during the two weeks around Christmas through the New Year," the US embassy said in a statement.

The British embassy said the terror threat to British nationals and interests throughout Indonesia remained high.

The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, in a report this month, said the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network carried out the Christmas Eve bombings in 2000. JI is also widely blamed for the Bali blast.

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been detained for his alleged role in the Christmas Eve bombings and a plot to kill Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.

Bashir, who has been named JI's spiritual leader, has denied links to terrorism. 

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