Paras Indonesia, October, 03 2005 @ 05:48 pm
Bali Bombings Death Toll Rises
Uncertainty remains over the exact death toll from Saturday night's three suicide
bombings at restaurants on the resort island of Bali, with police putting the figure at
22, while hospital officials have said 27 people were killed and 125 wounded.
The first two bombs went off at two open-air seafood restaurants on Jimbaran Beach.
The first hit Cafe Menega at 6.40pm. The second exploded at 6.41pm at the nearby
Cafe Nyoman. A third exploded at 6.45pm at the three-story Raja's noodle and steak
restaurant in Kuta Town Square.
Bali Police chief General I Made Mangku Pastika said three suicide bombers entered
the restaurants with explosives either strapped to their bodies or contained in
backpacks.
Police on Sunday released gruesome photos showing the severed heads of the three
suspected bombers, as well as amateur video footage of one of the suspects entering
Raja's moments before a massive explosion. Police said that only the heads, legs
and some hands of the suspected bombers were found because their torsos had been
blown to pieces.
No responsibility has been claimed for the attacks, but suspicion immediately fell on
regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al Qaeda and
was behind the October 12, 2002, Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people,
mostly foreign tourists. The group was also blamed for the August 2003 blast that
killed 12 people at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel, and the September 2004 bombing
outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta that killed 11 people.
Dozens of members of Jemaah Islamiyah have been arrested over the past three
years, but two key members of the network, Malaysian citizens Azahari bin Husin
and Noordin Mohammad Top, remain at large, apparently in Indonesia. Azahari is an
explosives expert, while Noordin is a recruiter of suicide bombers.
A few conspiracy theorists have speculated the latest Bali bombings might have been
carried out to divert public attention from the government's decision to significantly
raise fuel prices on October 1.
Police have been compiling a list of possible names of Saturday's suicide bombers,
while body samples of the suspects have been sent to Jakarta for DNA testing and
identification.
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