Blast in Bali Linked to Al-Qaida
Debate and DiscussionDiscuss Blast in Bali Linked to Al-Qaida in the Discussions forums; BALI, Indonesia (Oct. 14) - Indonesia's government, reeling from a bomb attack that killed at least 180 people, acknowledged for the first time Monday that al-Qaida is active on ...
BALI, Indonesia (Oct. 14) - Indonesia's government, reeling from a bomb attack that killed at least 180 people, acknowledged for the first time Monday that al-Qaida is active on its soil - setting the stage for a possible crackdown on extremists.
Stocks plummeted in the capital Jakarta, and markets sank elsewhere in Southeast Asia as tourists fled the country, already one of the region's most fragile economies.
But many Americans said they were planning to stay, contrary to State Department advice and despite warnings U.S. interests could be the next targets.
The car bomb Saturday at a nightclub packed with foreigners on this resort island is likely to harm more than just the economy and tourism. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, and despite U.S. pressure and the discovery of an al-Qaida-linked terror network in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia has insisted there is no threat of violent extremism on its soil.
The turnaround came after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta Monday, when Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil said: ''We are sure al-Qaida is here.''
''The Bali bomb blast is linked to al-Qaida with the cooperation of local terrorists,'' he said.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri is likely to face growing demands to arrest high-profile suspects whose continued freedom has astounded law enforcement officials in other countries. Whether she can do so without provoking extremists - and possible further attacks - is an open question.
In Washington, President Bush had strong words for the Indonesian leader, saying he planned to talk to her about the need to crack down on terrorism.
''I hope I hear the resolve of a leader who recognizes that any time terrorists take hold in a country it's going to weaken the country itself,'' Bush said.
''And there has to be a firm and deliberate desire to find out - find the killers before they kill somebody else,'' he said.
Security Minister Bambang Susilo Yudoyono said there were signs terrorists were planning attacks against industrial sites, including ExxonMobil'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.
On Bali, there was no visible evidence of a higher security presence or stricter controls at the airport, though police insisted an elite unit had been deployed.
The FBI and Australian detectives joined the hunt for the killers. Investigators from Scotland Yard were on the way, and Germany said it might send experts.
Bali police said 27 witnesses had been questioned.
Suspicion has fallen on Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that Singapore says is based in Indonesia and is linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network. But the group's leader denied involvement.
''All the allegations against me are groundless. I challenge them to prove anything,'' Abu Bakar Bashir said. ''I suspect that the bombing was engineered by the United States and its allies to justify allegations that Indonesia is a base for terrorists.''
Indonesia has refused to arrest Bashir, saying he has committed no crimes and that an anti-terrorism law has not been passed by Parliament.
Underlying the reluctance is a fear that arresting Bashir could provoke a backlash against the nascent democracy in the world's most populous Muslim nation, and that providing the military wider powers to deal with terrorism could herald a return of human rights abuses.
Malaysia and Singapore have jailed scores of suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members accused of plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy and other Western targets. The group has carried out bombings in the Philippines.
Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to have four tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used to make the Oklahoma City truck bomb, purchased by a suspected Malaysian member who the Malaysian government says allowed two of the Sept. 11 hijackers to use his apartment in 2000.
The U.S. Embassy ordered all nonessential staff and dependents to leave Indonesia, and said other Americans in Indonesia should consider leaving. Up to 20,000 Americans are believed to be in Indonesia, although few are permanent residents. Many are employees of U.S. energy companies, which have extensive interests in the resource-rich nation.
Foreign countries compiled rising tolls of their citizens killed in the bombings, while volunteers at a hospital-turned-morgue piled ice on bodies and loaded others into refrigerated containers to slow decomposition in the tropical heat.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, whose countrymen are believed to top the death list, arrived on Bali on Monday. The bombings may be the work of al-Qaida and its allies, he said, but he stopped short of calling for Bashir's arrest.
''We want the investigation to be concluded successfully ... rather than getting into personal details of groups like Jemaah Islamiyah,'' Downer said.
A pair of explosions, one from a car bomb, tore through a maze of bars, restaurants and nightclubs Saturday night at Kuta Beach, a haunt for surfers and young vacationers. The open-air Sari Club was turned into an inferno. Little remained of it Monday except a huge hole.
Government officials said 181 people died, although hospital workers put the total at 190. More than 300 people were injured.
Hundreds of wounded Australians were flown home Monday but two died en route.
Balinese officials said that only 39 positive identifications had been made - 15 Australians, eight Britons, five Singaporeans, six Indonesians, one German, one French citizen, one Dutch citizen, one New Zealander and one Ecuadorean.
Two Americans were killed and four injured, the U.S. State Department said. In London, the government said that at least 30 Britons died. Switzerland believed two of its citizens were among the dead.
Bali's international airport was filled with stunned vacationers desperately looking for flights home.
But planes also brought people to Bali, including relatives coming to console heartbroken family members and friends and to join the agonizing wait for missing loved ones to be identified.
''It's been hell,'' said David Byron, an Australian. His 14-year-old daughter, Chloe, was with schoolmates when the Sari Club exploded in flames. ''But I'm taking her home. I don't care what is left.''
The normally crowded beaches were largely empty Monday. At sunset, about 300 people, mostly longtime foreign residents, gathered on the beach for a religious ceremony, joined their hands in a circle and prayed.
''We all thought Bali was immune and sacred and protected,'' said an American woman, identifying herself only as Atta, who lost two friends in the attack. ''This is the work of outsiders.''
AP-NY-10-14-02 1707EDT
So what do you think? Could it truely be the work of Al Qaidea or is this just post-9/11 paranoia set in? Does anyone really know enough about this to blame Bin Ladin as Bush has done? 190 dead and 300 injured at the best estimate...thats nearly 500 casualities and is nothing to ignore. What are your thoughts?
Hey, bread is a good time for me...a-woodle-oo-doo, singing bread is a good time for EVERYbody...
-Homestar Runner
I don't know, it could be true, but I would blame activists in Eastern Timor first. Afterall why there? It seems more likely they'd hit the U.K. or U.S. before Bali. This is predominantly an Australian holiday hotspot. Autrailia's special ops intervention in Eastern Timor was heavily resented by the locals.
Neon
"I've oft been told by learned friars
That wishing and the crime were one
And heaven punishes desires
As much as if the deed were done.
If wishing damns us, you and I
Are damned to all our hearts content.
Come then we may at least enjoy
Some pleasure for our punishment..."
Good point. And besides they wanted to Blame Al Quaide for the bombing of that shopping mall over here. Yet it was a local nutjob who learnt how to make bombs and was very anti capitalist, maybe if he had learnt to build detonators as well as he did bombs it would have worked.
Anyway i digress. I think that it was just a local bunch of nutjobs, a nightclub for gods sake, thats not an important place, a skysrcraper would have had made more difference.
I think everything is being blamed on Al Quaida simply becuase it can be.
Islamic terrorism fits this case because the nightclubs served Western tourists.
Bali is also predominately Hindu area in what is the most populated muslim country. Another reason why it may be the work of local muslim militants working in tandem with Al Qaeda.
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the thing that you fail to understand is that Bali is a very popular place to holiday for Australians. Other reasons are to outst the current president.
They have "linked" the bomb that was used to an islamic organiztion that is in league with Osama big faggin.
The bomb used was military C4, not likely the backyard nut job could reporduce it.
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deaths head sodomising a grand piano--Salvador Dali
A giant lamb will fall from heaven and save the world. You poor bastards
I know an 18 year old that can make workable C4 quite easily...
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