Suicide bombers behind Bali blasts

BALI, Indonesia – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday that suicide bombers were likely behind the three attacks in Bali which killed 26 people and wounded 122 on Saturday.

Three bombs tore through restaurants packed with evening diners on Saturday, two at outdoor seafood eateries on Jimbaran Beach and one at a steak bar at Kuta Beach in an area surrounded by shops and jammed with pedestrians, including children. The attacks were the latest in a number of bomb blasts in Indonesia in recent years, several against Western targets, which have hurt tourism and raised concerns among investors about security in the world’s fourth most populous nation.”So far our investigation could say that these attacks were done by suicide bombers both in Jimbaran and Kuta Square,” Yudhoyono told a news conference on the resort island, after visiting the site of one of the bombings.” …they did not use a vehicle, rather their own bodies, we have some evidence as in parts of bodies at the location,” Yudhoyono said.Earlier Ansyaad Mbai, head of the counter-terrorism desk at the office of the chief security minister, had said as evidence of suicide bombers that: “We found heads detached from their bodies and all of them were around the area of the blasts.”Yudhoyono who finishes his first year in office later this month, pledged: “We will do more in our national effort in fighting terrorism.We will continue to conduct evaluation to ensure that our effort is proper to deter and combat terrorism.”Earlier yesterday in Jakarta, a sprawling city of 12 million people, police said the capital was on top alert following the Bali attacks, with some 18 000 officers on standby to guard pivotal points such as embassies and other public places.Asked whether the move was related to the bombings, police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told Reuters: “We are making investigations, it’s better for the police to prevent, don’t let anything happen.We are just anticipating.”Jakarta experienced deadly car-bomb attacks on a luxury hotel in 2003 and outside the Australian embassy in 2004.In Bali yesterday, a forensics team picked through the debris in the Jimbaran area.Chairs and tables had been blown apart but the buildings appeared largely undamaged.Surfing tour guide Wayan Jipang, 33, said there was panic when the bombs went off.”Everyone was trying to run away.I saw limbs, I saw heads on the beach.It was chaos.”The nearly simultaneous explosions came almost three years after militants linked to al Qaeda bombed nightclubs in Bali, killing 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.The latest attack occurred just as Bali’s tourism-dependent economy was recovering from the 2002 blasts, which scared off many overseas visitors.The blasts there and in Jimbaran appeared smaller than the 2002 attack, which included a car bomb that flattened its main nightclub target and ripped into buildings for blocks.Security experts said the strikes bore hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, a network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.Police blame JI for the 2002 blasts and a series of attacks against Western targets in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesian terrorism and militant organisations with the International Crisis Group, said that the attacks being likely carried out by suicide bombers pointed toward involvement by Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M.Top, key members of JI blamed for attacks in the past.Some have speculated the attacks could have come from others seeking to destabilise Yudhoyono’s presidency or upset with massive fuel price hikes his government has pushed through.”We are disappointed that this could happen again in Bali …With this the work of the intelligence (agencies) comes under question,” said parliament speaker Agung Laksono, whose Golkar Party has supported Yudhoyono.But Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security expert, told Reuters earlier it was difficult to prevent such attacks.”It’s just a very hard place to protect if you look at where they hit.”Bali hospital officials said so far 16 of the dead had been identified – 12 Indonesians including a six-year-old boy, three Australians and a Japanese.The wounded included 64 Indonesians, 20 Australians, seven South Koreans, four Americans, three Japanese, one French, and one German, with other nationalities unknown.- Nampa-ReutersThe attacks were the latest in a number of bomb blasts in Indonesia in recent years, several against Western targets, which have hurt tourism and raised concerns among investors about security in the world’s fourth most populous nation.”So far our investigation could say that these attacks were done by suicide bombers both in Jimbaran and Kuta Square,” Yudhoyono told a news conference on the resort island, after visiting the site of one of the bombings.” …they did not use a vehicle, rather their own bodies, we have some evidence as in parts of bodies at the location,” Yudhoyono said.Earlier Ansyaad Mbai, head of the counter-terrorism desk at the office of the chief security minister, had said as evidence of suicide bombers that: “We found heads detached from their bodies and all of them were around the area of the blasts.”Yudhoyono who finishes his first year in office later this month, pledged: “We will do more in our national effort in fighting terrorism.We will continue to conduct evaluation to ensure that our effort is proper to deter and combat terrorism.”Earlier yesterday in Jakarta, a sprawling city of 12 million people, police said the capital was on top alert following the Bali attacks, with some 18 000 officers on standby to guard pivotal points such as embassies and other public places.Asked whether the move was related to the bombings, police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told Reuters: “We are making investigations, it’s better for the police to prevent, don’t let anything happen.We are just anticipating.”Jakarta experienced deadly car-bomb attacks on a luxury hotel in 2003 and outside the Australian embassy in 2004.In Bali yesterday, a forensics team picked through the debris in the Jimbaran area.Chairs and tables had been blown apart but the buildings appeared largely undamaged.Surfing tour guide Wayan Jipang, 33, said there was panic when the bombs went off.”Everyone was trying to run away.I saw limbs, I saw heads on the beach.It was chaos.”The nearly simultaneous explosions came almost three years after militants linked to al Qaeda bombed nightclubs in Bali, killing 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.The latest attack occurred just as Bali’s tourism-dependent economy was recovering from the 2002 blasts, which scared off many overseas visitors.The blasts there and in Jimbaran appeared smaller than the 2002 attack, which included a car bomb that flattened its main nightclub target and ripped into buildings for blocks.Security experts said the strikes bore hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, a network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.Police blame JI for the 2002 blasts and a series of attacks against Western targets in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesian terrorism and militant organisations with the International Crisis Group, said that the attacks being likely carried out by suicide bombers pointed toward involvement by Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M.Top, key members of JI blamed for attacks in the past.Some have speculated the attacks could have come from others seeking to destabilise Yudhoyono’s presidency or upset with massive fuel price hikes his government has pushed through.”We are disappointed that this could happen again in Bali …With this the work of the intelligence (agencies) comes under question,” said parliament speaker Agung Laksono, whose Golkar Party has supported Yudhoyono.But Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security expert, told Reuters earlier it was difficult to prevent such attacks.”It’s just a very hard place to protect if you look at where they hit.”Bali hospital officials said so far 16 of the dead had been identified – 12 Indonesians including a six-year-old boy, three Australians and a Japanese.The wounded included 64 Indonesians, 20 Australians, seven South Koreans, four Americans, three Japanese, one French, and one German, with other nationalities unknown.- Nampa-Reuters