Oct 2, 2005
Suicide bombers responsible for Bali blasts
BALI - Investigators on Sunday concluded that suicide bombers
carried out the attacks on three crowded restaurants on Indonesia's
resort island of Bali, killing at least 25 people and wounding more
than a 100 others. A top anti-terror official said that two
Malaysian fugitives were suspected of masterminding the
strikes.
Two Australians and a Japanese were confirmed killed, along with 12
Indonesians in near simultaneous blasts that took place at the site
of the 2002 Bali blasts. -- AFP
Major General Ansyaad Mbai said the three attackers went into the
packed restaurants on Saturday evening wearing explosive vests. The
remains of their bodies were found at the scenes, he said.
'I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet,' he
said. 'By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying
the explosives around their waists.'
Malaysian JI members key suspects
Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top, on
Indonesia's most wanted lists since attacks on Bali in 2002 killed
202 people, are suspected in Saturday's blasts, said Maj-Ben
Mbai.
'The modus operandi of Saturday's attacks is the same as the
earlier ones,' he said.
The two - alleged to be key members of the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah
Islamiah (JI) terror group - were accused of orchestrating those
blasts and a string of attacks that involved suicide bombers.
At least three foreigners were confirmed killed in the attacks,
which occurred almost three years to the day after the Al-Qaeda
linked JI group bombed a crowded Bali nightclub strip on Oct 12,
2002, killing 202 people, most of them foreigners.
'More strikes possible'
Indonesian President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono warned more strikes
were possible.
'We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice,' he
said, said the president, who was scheduled to fly to Bali later on
Sunday to look at the devastation first hand.
Western and Indonesian intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned
the group was plotting more attacks despite a string of arrests.
Last month, Dr Yudhoyono said he was especially worried the
extremist network was about to strike.
Since the 2002 Bali blasts, JI has been tied to at least two other
bombings in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. Those blasts, one at the
J.W. Marriott hotel in 2003 and the other outside the Australian
Embassy in 2004, killed at least 23.
Foreigners among dead
Saturday's near simultaneous blasts ripped through two packed
seafood cafes on Jimbaran beach and a three-story noodle and steak
house in downtown Kuta, the site of the 2002 blasts.
Sanglah Hospital, near the island's capital Denpasar, which took
over the task of identifying victims, said 25 people were killed
and 101 others were being treated at six hospitals.
Two Australians and a Japanese person were killed, along with 12
Indonesians. Hospital officials were trying to identify the
nationalities of the 10 other corpses in the morgue, the hospital
said in a statement.
Among the injured were 49 Indonesians, 17 Australians, six Koreans,
three Japanese and two Americans, a hospital official said, adding
that the others had yet to been identified.
Victims evacuated to Singapore for treatment
An international medical assistance company on Sunday began
evacuating victims of the Bali bomb attacks to Singapore for
treatment.
Two Australians were taken to Singapore on Sunday by air ambulance
from Sanglah Hospital in Bali, International SOS said in a
statement. They were accompanied by a specially-trained medical
team.
'The victims sustained head and abdominal injuries but are in a
stable condition. We expect to airlift a few more patients in the
next 24 hours as we get a clearer picture of the victims' medical
conditions,' said Dr. Philippe Barrault, deputy group medical
director of International SOS.
The patients' identities were not disclosed.
The statement said 43 patients were treated in the International
SOS Kuta clinic, while a team of seven emergency physicians and
eight ICU nurses evacuated 16 patients to Singapore by air. -- AP,
AFP
