Indonesia blames Al Qaeda for Bali bombing. Interesting that most of the victims were not Americans. Lots of French and Germans but mostly Aussies.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's defense minister blamed al-Qaida and its extremist allies on Monday for the massive bomb attack that killed more than 180 people at a nightclub on the resort island of Bali.
``We are sure al-Qaida is here,'' Matori Abdul Djalil said after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta. ``The Bali bomb blast is linked to al-Qaida with the cooperation of local terrorists.''
The leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network, denied involvement and implicated the United States.
The defense minister's statement was the first time that a top government official had implicated al-Qaida in Saturday's attack, the worst of its kind worldwide since the Sept. 11 attacks in America. Until now, police investigators have said they had few clues and no suspects in the blasts that tore through the Kuta Beach nightclub district.
FBI and Australian detectives joined the hunt for the killers while forensic experts painstakingly tried to identify bodies. Indonesian government officials said 181 people had died, though hospital workers put the figure at 190.
Many of the victims were tourists from Australia, where hundreds of burned, bandaged and bruised survivors arrived in Sydney on Monday to tearful reunions with family and friends. Other victims were from Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Ecuador and Indonesia.
Two Americans were killed, the U.S. State Department said, and three others were among more than 300 people injured. Dozens of foreigners remained unaccounted for.
Among the missing was Jake Young, a former University of Nebraska football player who had been working as an attorney in Hong Kong for a London-based firm. The 34-year-old was traveling in Bali with his rugby team, and had not contacted his family since the blast.
``We're clinging to a thin ray of hope that he's going to be found alive,'' his father, Jacob Young, said Sunday night from Midland, Texas.
The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, often the target of bomb threats, ordered all nonessential staff and dependents to leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
A bomb threat shut down the embassy's club for a second day. The Australian school in Jakarta closed as a precaution.
In Washington, President Bush condemned the attack as ``a cowardly act designed to create terror and chaos'' and offered U.S. help in finding the perpetrators.
Fearing that terrorists could strike again, thousands of stunned tourists thronged Bali's airport, desperately looking for flights. Many vacationers camped overnight on beaches, shunning built-up areas in case of more attacks.
``We just want to go back to our families,'' said Carima Sebba, 26, from the Netherlands. ``I'm scared, I won't be back for a long time.''
As stocks tumbled in Jakarta by more than 9 percent Monday and the Indonesian rupiah also took a dive against the U.S. dollar, many worried about a long-term decline in tourism, one of Indonesia's top industries.
More than 5 million foreigners visited Indonesia in 2001 -- about 1.5 million to Bali alone. All told, they inject about $5 billion into the economy each year.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombing -- the worst terrorist attack in Indonesia's history. But suspicion immediately turned to al-Qaida and an affiliated group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which is said to want a pan-Islamic state across Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines.
Jemaah Islamiyah has already been implicated in a plot at the beginning of this year to bomb foreign embassies in the region, and Australia says it is a prime suspect in the Bali attack.
``The attack bears the hallmarks of JI,'' said an expert on al-Qaida, Rohan Gunaratna. ``Only the JI has both the intention and capability to conduct a professional terrorist attack like the Bali operation.''
U.S. Ambassador Ralph Boyce told The Associated Press that while the Bali bombings couldn't yet be pinned on al-Qaida, there is evidence that it is operating in Indonesia and reaching out to local extremists.
Abu Bakar Bashir, a Muslim cleric accused of leading Jemaah Islamiyah, denied involvement and blamed the blast on the United States.
``I suspect that the bombing was engineered by the United States and its allies to justify allegations that Indonesia is a base for terrorists,'' he told the AP in telephone interview from Solo, a city in central Java, where he runs an Islamic boarding school.
Indonesian police refused to say whether Bashir would be questioned despite repeated calls by neighboring countries that he be arrested.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who wept as she toured the wreckage Sunday, promised to cooperate with other nations in the investigation.
Security Minister Bambang Susilo Yudoyono said there were signs that terrorists were planning attacks against key industrial sites, including Exxon Mobil's Arun liquefied natural gas plant in Aceh and the Caltex refinery in Sumatra.
``We will increase the security alert in those areas,'' Yudoyono said after a Cabinet meeting.
On Bali, there was no visible evidence of a higher security presence or stricter controls at the airport, though police officials insisted that an elite unite had been deployed. Police said they had no suspects.
Balinese officials said that only 39 positive identifications had been made, listing 15 Australians, eight Britons, five Singaporeans, six Indonesians, one German, one French citizen, one Dutch citizen, one New Zealander and one Ecuadorean.
In London, the government said at least 30 Britons had died.
Seven U.N. staffers from nearby East Timor, vacationing in Bali, were injured and two were unaccounted for, U.N. officials said.
The destruction started when a small bomb exploded outside Paddy's Discotheque in a maze of clubs and bars on Kuta Beach. Shortly afterward, a huge blast from a bomb in a Toyota minivan devastated the Sari Club, a crowded surfer hangout nearby.
The second blast ripped into the open-air bar, triggering a massive burst of flames that officials said was fueled by gas cylinders used for cooking. The explosions and fire devastated much of the block.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Monday he was dispatching his foreign and justice ministers to Indonesia to discuss cooperation in the hunt for the bombers. |
