An explosion outside a Marriot Hotel in downtown Jakarta killed four people on Tuesday, radio reports said.

It was not immediately clear whether the blast was caused by a bomb. However, since last year's terrorist bombings in Bali, which killed 202 people, authorities have warned that more attacks were likely.

"I saw four badly burned bodies on the street," a reporter from Jakarta's El Shinta radio station said, adding that two cars nearby were on fire.

Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, a police spokesman, said he had heard the report and that officers were on their way to the hotel.

Black smoke could be seen rising from the front of the hotel, located in a district where many foreign embassies are housed, an Associated Press reporter on the scene said.

The hotel's lobby plate glass windows were shattered, but it was not immediately clear how much damage had been caused to the structure.

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