US President George W. Bush has arrived in Indonesia to a storm of angry protests, looking to highlight growing strategic ties with the world"s most populous Muslim nation in a lightning trip.

Indonesian Muslim protesters from the Hizbut Tahrir shout slogans during a demonstration against George W. Bush in Bogor. Bush shrugged off angry protests against his visit to Indonesia by Muslims who oppose the Iraq war and are unhappy at the US presence in Afghanistan.(AFP/Adek Berry)

Bush held talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the summer palace in the town of Bogor and was to meet with civic leaders during his seven-hour visit, before heading to Hawaii and from there to Washington.

Far from the smiles and happy waves he saw from his armored limousine at his previous stop in Vietnam, the US president faced intense opposition and even calls for his blood from Indonesian Muslims angry over the Iraq war and the US military presence in Afghanistan.

Bush"s visit turned this usually quiet resort town into a war zone, with grim-faced soldiers clutching assault weapons standing vigil on the streets and manning roadblocks, and razor wire blocking the way to the Bogor summer palace.

White House officials said Bush hoped to emphasize that the United States wants a strategic relationship with Indonesia that looks beyond the flourishing counter-terrorism cooperation since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The US president was also expected to emphasize that the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam, and seek an update on US efforts to help reconstruction in Indonesia"s Aceh province two years after a devastating tsunami.

But such public diplomacy efforts seemed to fall on deaf ears here as about 2,000 protestors including Islamic activists and students crowded near the palace, waving posters decrying him and his aides "the real terrorists".

A group of some 50 students tried to break through the police cordon at the barricade, and scuffled with police before being hustled off.

An estimated 15,000-strong contingent of security forces locked down the center of Bogor and soldiers lined the highway from the airport to the summer palace while Bush helicoptered to his meeting with Yudhoyono.

Police said they had received unconfirmed reports a suicide bomber could be planning an attack and that teams of police and soldiers had been deployed to search and secure the area around the palace.

"We are confident that the US Secret Service and Indonesian authorities will be able to protect President and Mrs Bush," White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said ahead of the visit.

Leaders of the Alliance of United Muslim Mass Organisations, which groups scores of Islamic groups, called for Bush to be put to death and denounced him as a "war criminal" and a "terrorist" at a rally of some 2,000 people.

"Kill him, kill him," said one protest leader through a loudspeaker, adding that "The blood of George Bush is halal" -- meaning that it was not a sin under Islam to harm him.

Farida, a veiled private enterpreneur in her 30s, said she came to protest Bush along with other women from the hardline Hizbut Tahrir Islamic organisation, stressing: "I do not want him to come here."

As US helicopters flew overhead, protestors began punching their fists and yelling "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

Yudhoyono has said he could understand people"s wish to show their opposition to the visit, but warned against "excessive protests" that could tarnish Indonesia"s image.

"If something bad happens, the world will blame us. We certainly do not want to be regarded as a country that cannot respect its guests," he said according to the Jakarta Post daily.

Anti-Bush protests were staged in at least eight cities across the Indonesian archipelago Monday.

Despite the demonstrations and stringent security measures which have provoked controversy, analysts said the US leader"s visit was good news for Indonesia.

"Bush"s decision to come proves that we are a strategic partner for the United States," said Bantarto Bandoro, political analyst with the Center for Strategic International Studies, a private think tank.