International   

Nine killed in Jakarta blasts

— Photo: AP

HOTELS TARGETED: Explosions rocked two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday, killing nine persons and injuring over 40. The bombs exploded at Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott, the latter a target in 2003 too

SINGAPORE: Serial explosions rocked two luxury hotels in Jakarta on Friday, killing at least nine persons, including three foreigners, and injuring over 40 others. Indonesian officials and South-East Asian diplomats did not identify any group as the prime suspect behind the carnage.

One of the targeted hotels, J W Marriott, was the scene of a bomb blast in 2003 as well. Twelve died in that explosion.

Friday’s bombings, which hit the adjacent Ritz-Carlton hotel too, cast what a regional diplomat described as a “pall” over the prevailing “positive” sentiment about Indonesia’s outlook that was shaped by the peaceful July 8 presidential poll.

Speaking on background a few hours after Friday’s explosions, Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesian President’s Chief-of-Staff, told The Hindu from Jakarta that “it is too early to say who [was behind].” The investigation would be done “from the ground up” with an “open mind” and on the basis of “all the forensic evidence” at the scene. “It is open to any possibility … and, at the moment, we don’t even know how they [the terrorists] did it,” he said.

In televised comments later, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed confidence that those behind Friday’s “act of terrorism” could be brought to justice. This would be done regardless of the political background, if any, of these terrorists, he emphasised.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said an American, a Canadian and a New Zealander were among those killed.

India’s Ambassador to Indonesia Biren Nanda said, when contacted, that checks had shown that no Indian national was among those killed or injured.

The accounts of independent observers varied. But some reports from Jakarta quoted the local police as saying that a suspected suicide bomber had stayed as a guest at one of the hotels, where the basement was targeted. A restaurant in the other hotel was the scene of the other explosion. Some major terrorist strikes in Indonesia in recent years were the 2002 and the 2005 Bali bombings, and the attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Nine killed in Jakarta blasts
“Hijack” case against Nawaz set aside
Rajapaksa’s assurance to Manmohan
An address to all the Barack Obamas out there
Cherie Blair has A(H1N1) flu
‘Motwani died due to accidental drowning’
U.S. sees India as global player

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu