Indonesia Hotel Bombing Kills 13 People
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A suspected suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Jakarta on Tuesday killed 13 people and injured 149, shattering hopes for peace in the wake of last year's Bali blasts and underscoring the continued threat of terrorism in the world's largest Muslim nation.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Terrorist Bombing at Jakarta Hotel
Terrorist Bomb Strikes Hotel in Jakarta
(AP Video)
"This is another very, very tragic event for Indonesia's efforts of recovery," said Anders Backman, the charge d'affaires at the Swedish Embassy, which was also damaged in the midday blast.
The Marriott a frequent venue for U.S. Embassy functions and a popular destination for foreigners was transformed into a bloody inferno when a vehicle packed with explosives blew up on the driveway leading to its front entrance.
The governor of Jakarta, Sutiyoso, said it was "very likely" carried out by a suicide bomber. The national police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, refused to speculate on the cause, but confirmed the vehicle was moving at the time of the explosion.
Puddles of blood and shattered glass littered a two-block radius. The 33-story hotel which had a 77 percent occupancy rate at the time of the blast was decimated, its lobby covered in charred sofas, overturned tables and caved-in ceilings.
Rescue teams rushed to evacuate the wounded, which reportedly included at least 10 foreigners, including two Americans. A Dutch citizen was the only foreigner reported among the dead.
"Women ran out of the hotel screaming 'help! help!'" said Supria, a 40-year-old construction worker, adding that rescuers aimed fire extinguishers at people engulfed in flames.
"I thought a plane must have hit the building," said Iin, an office worker in an adjacent building who like many Indonesians uses a single name.
Inside a ground-floor restaurant of an adjacent building, half-eaten pasta dishes remained on tables covered in broken plates and glass.
Ceiling and wall panels were scattered in the street outside the hotel's lobby, exposing the bare concrete pillars. The adjacent Rajawali building houses the embassies of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. None of the staff were injured, officials said.
The Indonesian Red Cross put the death toll at 13, adding that 149 people were wounded.
It was only 10 months ago on Oct. 12 that suspected Islamic militants blew up two nightclubs on the idyllic island of Bali, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and catapulting Indonesia into the front lines of the international war on terror.
The government won kudos for its efforts to bring the perpetrators of those blasts to justice. In recent months and weeks, tourism and foreign investment had begun to return; the U.S. Embassy in April gave the green light for staffers to bring their families back to Indonesia.
All that has now been thrown into doubt.
The Indonesian currency, the rupiah, fell more than two percent Tuesday and the Jakarta stock exchange (news - web sites) closed 3.1 percent lower. Businesses and hotels were already reporting cancellations by would-be visitors.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but suspicion immediately fell on the same organization blamed for the Bali attack the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, which authorities say is fighting to install a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.
Its alleged leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, took the stand for the first time Tuesday at his treason trial over a series of bombings in 2000. During his testimony which occurred before the Marriott explosion he admitted to giving his "blessings" to militants who trained in the southern Philippines and Afghanistan (news - web sites) in the 1990s.
Bashir denies any link to terrorism, however.
Keenly aware of the potential economic fallout from the latest blast the Bali bombings wrecked tourism in one of the world's premier vacation spots Indonesia moved quickly to bolster security.
Security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government had ordered strict checks at the airport and other public places, and said officials would announce even stronger security measures on Wednesday.
Calling the blast a "diabolical and inhumane terrorist attack," he added: "We cannot allow any space for terrorism."
Later in the day, President Megawati Sukarnoputri toured the wreckage and visited the wounded at a hospital. Only four days ago, Megawati gave a state-of-the-nation address calling militants "a terrifying threat" and vowing to "dismantle the terrorist network to its roots."
Leaders from around the world expressed horror and outrage. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) called it a "dastardly act." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent Indonesia his "deepest sympathies."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who stayed at the Marriott on a recent visit to Jakarta and whose country lost 88 citizens in the Bali blasts, offered to send investigators to help Indonesian authorities.
"If, as it appears likely, it is a terrorist attack, it is yet another reminder that the fight against JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) and other groups goes on and it will be a fight that will take years and require the cooperation of all of the agencies in the region," he said.
Indonesia's Vice President Hamzah Haz said the attack may have been targeted against U.S. interests in the country. The Marriott had been the site of the U.S. Embassy's July 4 celebrations during the past two years.
About three dozen alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members have been arrested in connection with the Bali blasts and could be executed if convicted. Tuesday's bomb rocked the capital just two days before the first verdict is expected in a series of trials on Bali.
A U.S. official, asking that his name not be used, said the latest explosion bore the hallmarks of a Jemaah Islamiyah attack, but stressed that most of the casualties appear to be Indonesians, not foreigners.
"It's definitely a trademark of Jemaah Islamiyah to cause as many casualties as possible in high profile attacks," the official said.
Among the dead was Dutch citizen Hans Winkelmolen, 49, a bank president who was winding up a three-year assignment in Jakarta and was eating in the hotel restaurant with his successor, Tony Costa, when the bomb went off, said company spokesman Jan Dost. Costa was hospitalized and the extent of his injuries was not known.
Winkelmolen, 49, was president of PT Rabobank Duta Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank.
The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack, and said U.S. authorities remain confident in the Indonesian government's ability to rein in terrorism and protect American interests in the country.
However, embassy spokesman Tim Gerhardson said a U.S. State Department advisory warning Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Indonesia remains in effect.
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A suspected suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel in the heart of Jakarta on Tuesday killed 13 people and injured 149, shattering hopes for peace in the wake of last year's Bali blasts and underscoring the continued threat of terrorism in the world's largest Muslim nation.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Terrorist Bombing at Jakarta Hotel
Terrorist Bomb Strikes Hotel in Jakarta
(AP Video)
"This is another very, very tragic event for Indonesia's efforts of recovery," said Anders Backman, the charge d'affaires at the Swedish Embassy, which was also damaged in the midday blast.
The Marriott a frequent venue for U.S. Embassy functions and a popular destination for foreigners was transformed into a bloody inferno when a vehicle packed with explosives blew up on the driveway leading to its front entrance.
The governor of Jakarta, Sutiyoso, said it was "very likely" carried out by a suicide bomber. The national police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, refused to speculate on the cause, but confirmed the vehicle was moving at the time of the explosion.
Puddles of blood and shattered glass littered a two-block radius. The 33-story hotel which had a 77 percent occupancy rate at the time of the blast was decimated, its lobby covered in charred sofas, overturned tables and caved-in ceilings.
Rescue teams rushed to evacuate the wounded, which reportedly included at least 10 foreigners, including two Americans. A Dutch citizen was the only foreigner reported among the dead.
"Women ran out of the hotel screaming 'help! help!'" said Supria, a 40-year-old construction worker, adding that rescuers aimed fire extinguishers at people engulfed in flames.
"I thought a plane must have hit the building," said Iin, an office worker in an adjacent building who like many Indonesians uses a single name.
Inside a ground-floor restaurant of an adjacent building, half-eaten pasta dishes remained on tables covered in broken plates and glass.
Ceiling and wall panels were scattered in the street outside the hotel's lobby, exposing the bare concrete pillars. The adjacent Rajawali building houses the embassies of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. None of the staff were injured, officials said.
The Indonesian Red Cross put the death toll at 13, adding that 149 people were wounded.
It was only 10 months ago on Oct. 12 that suspected Islamic militants blew up two nightclubs on the idyllic island of Bali, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and catapulting Indonesia into the front lines of the international war on terror.
The government won kudos for its efforts to bring the perpetrators of those blasts to justice. In recent months and weeks, tourism and foreign investment had begun to return; the U.S. Embassy in April gave the green light for staffers to bring their families back to Indonesia.
All that has now been thrown into doubt.
The Indonesian currency, the rupiah, fell more than two percent Tuesday and the Jakarta stock exchange (news - web sites) closed 3.1 percent lower. Businesses and hotels were already reporting cancellations by would-be visitors.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but suspicion immediately fell on the same organization blamed for the Bali attack the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, which authorities say is fighting to install a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.
Its alleged leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, took the stand for the first time Tuesday at his treason trial over a series of bombings in 2000. During his testimony which occurred before the Marriott explosion he admitted to giving his "blessings" to militants who trained in the southern Philippines and Afghanistan (news - web sites) in the 1990s.
Bashir denies any link to terrorism, however.
Keenly aware of the potential economic fallout from the latest blast the Bali bombings wrecked tourism in one of the world's premier vacation spots Indonesia moved quickly to bolster security.
Security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government had ordered strict checks at the airport and other public places, and said officials would announce even stronger security measures on Wednesday.
Calling the blast a "diabolical and inhumane terrorist attack," he added: "We cannot allow any space for terrorism."
Later in the day, President Megawati Sukarnoputri toured the wreckage and visited the wounded at a hospital. Only four days ago, Megawati gave a state-of-the-nation address calling militants "a terrifying threat" and vowing to "dismantle the terrorist network to its roots."
Leaders from around the world expressed horror and outrage. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites) called it a "dastardly act." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sent Indonesia his "deepest sympathies."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who stayed at the Marriott on a recent visit to Jakarta and whose country lost 88 citizens in the Bali blasts, offered to send investigators to help Indonesian authorities.
"If, as it appears likely, it is a terrorist attack, it is yet another reminder that the fight against JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) and other groups goes on and it will be a fight that will take years and require the cooperation of all of the agencies in the region," he said.
Indonesia's Vice President Hamzah Haz said the attack may have been targeted against U.S. interests in the country. The Marriott had been the site of the U.S. Embassy's July 4 celebrations during the past two years.
About three dozen alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members have been arrested in connection with the Bali blasts and could be executed if convicted. Tuesday's bomb rocked the capital just two days before the first verdict is expected in a series of trials on Bali.
A U.S. official, asking that his name not be used, said the latest explosion bore the hallmarks of a Jemaah Islamiyah attack, but stressed that most of the casualties appear to be Indonesians, not foreigners.
"It's definitely a trademark of Jemaah Islamiyah to cause as many casualties as possible in high profile attacks," the official said.
Among the dead was Dutch citizen Hans Winkelmolen, 49, a bank president who was winding up a three-year assignment in Jakarta and was eating in the hotel restaurant with his successor, Tony Costa, when the bomb went off, said company spokesman Jan Dost. Costa was hospitalized and the extent of his injuries was not known.
Winkelmolen, 49, was president of PT Rabobank Duta Indonesia, a subsidiary of the Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank.
The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack, and said U.S. authorities remain confident in the Indonesian government's ability to rein in terrorism and protect American interests in the country.
However, embassy spokesman Tim Gerhardson said a U.S. State Department advisory warning Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Indonesia remains in effect.