Bombs rip through Indonesia hotels, killing 9

July 17: Bomb blasts ripped through luxury hotels in the heart of Indonesia’s capital on Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens in attacks which the president said badly hurt confidence in the country.
The bombs targeted the JW Marriott hotel, scene of a car bomb attack in 2003, and the Ritz-Carlton, both popular with visiting international businessmen and thought to boast some of the tightest security in Jakarta.
A car bomb killed two people along a toll road in the north of the capital, police said, and an unexploded homemade device was also later found on the 18th floor of the Marriott.
A visibly upset President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, re-elected this month on the back of improved security and a healthier economy, told a news conference that the bombings were the act of a terrorist group bent on damaging the country.
“I am sure most of us are deeply concerned, feel very sorry, and are crying silently, like the way I am feeling,” he said, adding the perpetrators were “laughing and cheering with anger and hatred.”
“They do not have a sense of humanity and do not care about the destruction of our country because of this terror act will have a wide impact on our economy, our business climate, our tourism, our image in the world and many others.”
Indonesian financial markets fell after the blasts, with the rupiah down 0.7 per cent at 10,200 per dollar, prompting state banks to sell dollars to support the currency, traders said. Indonesian stocks were down 2 per cent.
The apparently coordinated bombings are the first in several years and follow a period in which the government had made progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups, bringing a sense of political stability to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Suspicion was likely to fall on the Jemaah Islamiah militant group, blamed for the previous Marriott attack as well as bombings on the island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.
The group, which wants to create an Islamic state across parts of Southeast Asia,
was blamed for a string of attacks until 2005, but many militants have since been arrested.
“The attack is particularly severe for investor confidence because … it has affected the hotels that are seen to be among the most secure in Jakarta and also either killed or wounded numerous prominent expatriate business people,” said Kevin O’Rourke, a political risk analyst in Jakarta.
Tim Mackay, president director of cement maker
PT Holcim Indonesia, was among those killed, the company said.
 
Courtesy of The Independent