Tourists flee holiday island after attack
Terrified tourists were fleeing the island resort of Bali today and the US Embassy in Jakarta ordered all nonessential staff and dependants to leave Indonesia, after a bomb attack that killed 188 people.
Many of those killed by the two bombs that tore through the Kuta Beach nightclub district on Bali island on Saturday were tourists from Australia, as well as from Canada, Germany and Sweden.
Hospital workers said 188 were killed. The Australian government said today that 14 Australians were confirmed dead, 110 injured and nearly 220 missing. Two Americans were killed, while three were among the more than 300 people injured.
Seven United Nations staffers from East Timor, holidaying in Bali, were among the injured, officials in East Timor said.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombings – the worst terrorist attack in Indonesia’s history – but suspicion turned to al-Qaida and an affiliated group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which wants to establish a pan-Islamic state across Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines. It is accused of plotting to blow up the US and other embassies in Singapore.
Capt Muhamad Anwar of the Kuta police said forensics experts were combing the site today for clues.
“We are interviewing witnesses, but we have no suspects,” Anwar said.
The attack in Bali, the centre of Indonesia’s thriving tourist industry, sent the country’s currency and stock market plunging early today.
In Jakarta, the US embassy ordered all non-essential personnel and family members to leave Indonesia.
“This is an order, this is not a voluntary departure,” spokeswoman Greta Morris said.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange index fell about 8% in early trading today. The rupiah dropped to 9,300 to the US dollar, from last week’s level of 9,000.
Tourism accounts for 4% of the gross development product and employs eight million workers. Bali is by far the most popular destination, attracting 1.4 million foreigners in 2001, and an expected exodus of visitors could cause devastating repercussions for Indonesia.
At the main hospital in Bali’s capital of Denpasar, hundreds of local people and foreigners lined up to donate blood for the injured.
In Jakarta, the cabinet was due to meet in emergency session today to discuss the events.
In Washington, US president George Bush condemned the attack as “a cowardly act designed to create terror and chaos” and offered US help in finding the perpetrators.
“The world must confront this global menace, terrorism,” he said.
The attacks were on the second anniversary of the al-Qaida linked attack against USS Cole off Yemen that left 17 sailors dead and took place amid signs of increasing terrorist activity that had led to the closure of US embassies and renewed terror alerts for Americans.
The destruction started when a small homemade bomb exploded outside Paddy’s Discotheque in the maze of clubs and bars on Kuta Beach, a popular haunt with young travellers.
Shortly afterwards, a huge blast from a bomb in a Toyota Kijang, a Jeep-like vehicle, 30 yards down the street devastated the crowded Sari Club, a surfers’ hangout.
A third, smaller bomb, exploded outside the US consular office. No one was injured in that blast.
The second blast ripped into the open-air bar, triggering a massive burst of flames that officials said was fuelled by gas cylinders used for cooking. The blaze collapsed the roof of the flimsy structure, trapping revellers in flaming wreckage. The explosions and fire damaged about 20 buildings and devastated much of the block.
Identification of the dead was slow, since some were burned beyond recognition.
Indonesian National Police Chief Gen Da’I Bachtiar called the it “the worst act of terror in Indonesia’s history”.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri flew to Bali and wept as she toured the wreckage. Asked about a possible link to al-Qaida, she said: “That will be continuously investigated so that this can be uncovered as soon as possible.” She promised to co-operate with other nations to fight terror.
US ambassador Ralph Boyce told the Associated Press that it was not possible yet to pin the Bali attack on al-Qaida, but noted that recent evidence had confirmed that al-Qaida was in Indonesia and reaching out to local extremists.
“In recent weeks, we have been able to put an end to a year of speculation as to whether al-Qaida might be in Indonesia, or relocating to Indonesia, or using Indonesia as a base of operations, after the fall of Afghanistan,” Boyce said.
The United States and Indonesia’s neighbours have urged Jakarta for months to pass an anti-terrorism law that has been languishing in the parliament contending there is a strong al-Qaida presence.
Without the law, Indonesia says, security forces cannot arrest suspects without clear evidence they have committed a crime.
“This horrible incident has only made it that much more urgent that they find some way to deal with this problem,” Boyce said. “They (Indonesians) are in the middle of doing that.”
The US Embassy was considering scaling back staff, though no decision had been taken. Americans were warned on the embassy website to consider leaving the country.
Bush said the United States had offered Indonesia assistance “to help bring these murderers to justice,” and a senior White House official said US investigators were already at the scene.
The airport at Bali’s city of Depasar was thronged by stunned, mostly young travellers cutting short their holidays and desperately looking for flights home. Many camped overnight on beaches, shunning built-up areas for fear of more attacks.
The Australian air force brought survivors home for medical treatment. The first flight arrived yesterday in the northern city of Darwin, carrying 15 people identified as American, Australian and Canadian.
Bali is a popular tourist destination, and 20,000 Australians were estimated to be on the island.
