9 killed, 52 hurt

Police inspecting the damage at the JW Marriott in Jakarta yesterday. Eyewitnesses say the first blast ripped through the right-side lobby of the Marriott at around 7.45am.-- PHOTO:
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST, 18 July 2009

JAKARTA: Nearly five years after the last terrorist attack in the Indonesian capital, explosions tore through two of its five- star hotels yesterday morning.

Among the dead who had been identified by press time were three Australians, a New Zealander and an Indonesian.
The bodies of other victims were said to be too mangled to be identified but were believed to be those of foreigners. Police said the casualties included citizens of Indonesia, the United States, Australia, South Korea, the Netherlands, Italy, Britain, Canada, Norway, Japan and India.
The Ritz-Carlton and the JW Marriott face each other and are separated by a small road. The blasts gutted both of their lobbies. The attack was the second on the Marriott. It was first hit by a car bomb in August 2003 that killed 12.
Eyewitnesses said the first blast ripped through the right-side lobby of the Marriott at around 7.45am.
At the time, well-known US business consultant James Castle was chairing his weekly breakfast meeting with 18 other high-level executives in a plush room just off the lobby.
Barely two minutes later, another explosion rocked the Air Langga restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton while guests were having breakfast.
Witnesses described grim scenes of bloodied survivors fleeing from the hotels. Television footage showed broken beams, shattered windows and a ruined buffet breakfast area in the Ritz-Carlton.
Mr Alex Asmasoebrata was jogging near the hotels at the time of the blasts.
'There was a smell like firecrackers, and then five minutes after that, there was an explosion at the Ritz-Carlton,' he said, adding that he saw a foreigner with a leg severed and two others with burns.
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told Agence France-Presse that the bombs had been packed with nails, ball bearings, nuts and bolts to cause maximum carnage.
Indonesia's police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said two suicide bombers carried out the attacks, one at each hotel, using devices similar to those used in previous attacks by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
The group has links to Al-Qaeda and has been blamed for a series of bombings in Indonesia, including the 2002 blasts in Bali which killed more than 200 people.
Chief Danuri said the bombers used explosives similar to those found in a house in Cilacap, Central Java on Tuesday.
A sombre-looking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - who had just received an overwhelming mandate for a second term partly on his record in fighting terror - condemned the attacks.
He vowed to hunt down those responsible for the crime, after visiting the hospitals where victims were taken to.
Speaking in a televised press conference, he also responded to speculation that the attacks were tied to the recent presidential election. He said he had received intelligence reports of plans for violence and anarchy linked to the results.
It was too early to say who was responsible, he said, but nothing should be ruled out, including the possibility that the attacks may have been politically motivated.
Dr Yudhoyono said that the JI terrorist group may not have been responsible.
But analysts such as International Crisis Group director Sidney Jones said that suicide bombings were characteristic of Noordin Top, a Malaysian fugitive master bombmaker who leads a splinter JI group. The group claimed responsibility for the last attack in Indonesia in 2005.
She said the attacks were least likely to be related to the presidential election because planning had to start much earlier.
Jakarta's benchmark stock index ended the day down only 0.6 per cent.
Ms Joanna Tan of Forecast in Singapore said Dr Yudhoyono's second term of office and relatively good performance in the economy should keep investor confidence supported.

lynnlee@sph.com.sg wahyudis@sph.com.sg With additional information from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

Another terrorist attack. What are the consequences for Indonesia having hotels being bombed numerous times? Are there lessons for us to learn? Can we still take peace and security for granted?