For several months now, I've been worrying about Indonesia, and the trouble that's going to stem from there if Al Qaeda establishes a strong foot hold in the world's largest Muslim country. Well, not many people took my concerns seriosuly. so...
Terror stalks Indonesia as hotel bombs kill nine
JAKARTA, July 17, 2009 (AFP) - Suspected Islamist suicide bombers detonated high-explosive devices in two luxury Jakarta hotels popular with foreigners Friday, killing at least nine people, officials said.
Witnesses described grim scenes with bloodied survivors fleeing in panic from the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, as terrorism returned to the world's most populous Muslim nation after four years without a major attack.
The broad streets of Jakarta's financial district were littered with glass and debris and smeared with blood after the breakfast-time bombings, which sent a huge plume of smoke over the city.
A sombre-looking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose crackdown on the extremist Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) appeared to have quelled the extremist threat, said the bombings undermined the security of the entire nation.
He said the attackers "have no humanity and they don't care about the damage done to our country with this act of terrorism, which will have wide effects on our economy, trade, tourism and image in the eyes of the world".
Officials said more than 40 other people were injured when two blasts shook the upmarket hotels, and pinned suspicion on a JI splinter group led by Malaysian-born bombmaker Noordin Mohammed Top.
"Based on the evidence at the scene, we found that there were two suicide bombers," national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters.
Grainy security camera footage at the Ritz-Carlton showed a man wearing a backpack on his chest and carrying a suitcase entering the hotel restaurant moments before a bomb exploded.
The flickering footage aired on the TV One station showed the large open doorway to the restaurant erupting with glass, debris and smoke as the bomb was detonated inside.
People in the doorway were engulfed by the blast, while others dived for cover behind furniture and walls. Witnesses described a scene of carnage.
"I was walking outside and I saw three injured people taken to the ambulance," shop assistant Syarif, 32, said.
"They were all foreigners, their faces and bodies all covered in blood. The skin near the eye of one of them was peeling off," he said.
At least one foreigner, a New Zealand businessman, was confirmed dead and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he had "grave concerns" for three missing Australians including an embassy official.
Rudd condemned the "barbaric" attacks, saying they made him "sick to the stomach".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, condemning the "senseless" attacks as she headed to Asia for a trip starting in India, said the State Department was working to help an unspecified number of Americans hurt in the blasts.
"The attacks reflect the viciousness of violent extremists, and remind us that the threat of terrorism remains very real," she said.
Manchester United were due to stay at the Ritz-Carlton next week as part of an Asian tour but they cancelled the trip, denying a sell-out crowd of 100,000 the chance to see the English football giants play an Indonesia XI on Monday.
The Marriott was hit in 2003 by a blast that killed 12 people, and Friday's violence bore the hallmark of past attacks blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked JI both in Jakarta and the tourism hotspot of Bali.
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna confirmed at least nine people were killed and 41 were injured, including 14 foreigners, when the blasts struck around 8:00 am (0100 GMT).
Despite security measures in place at Jakarta's top hotels, including vehicle searches and metal detectors, police said one blast hit the basement of the Marriott and a second struck the restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton.
An unexploded bomb was later found and defused by police in room 1808 of the Marriott, presidential adviser Djali Yusuf said.
The room was a "control centre" for the attacks, he said, with police discovering explosive chemicals and bomb-making materials in a potential treasure trove of evidence as investigators piece together the attacks.
Officials said seven people were killed at the Marriott and two others at the Ritz-Carlton.
A South Korean man and a Japanese national were also listed among the foreigners who were injured.
Condemnation poured in from Indonesia's neighbours in Southeast Asia, where JI is accused of plotting to create a pan-Islamic state.
JI's most notorious attack was the bombing of several nightclubs on the island of Bali in 2002 which left more than 200 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.
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