AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Sunday October 13, 2002 6:41 AM
At least 53 dead in huge bomb on Indonesian tourist island
A huge bomb ripped through two bars packed with tourists on the Indonesian resort
island of Bali and killed at least 53 people, mostly foreigners, hospital sources said.
The explosion destroyed the bars in the tourist district of Kuta and left more than 100
injured. Shortly afterwards a second bomb exploded near the US consulate on the
island, without causing casualties.
"There are charred and mangled bodies everywhere, it is unbelievable," said French
photographer Cyril Terrien at the scene. "I have never seen such an appalling thing in
my life."
The blasts come just weeks after the United States reopened its diplomatic missions
in Indonesia following a shutdown over the September 11 anniversary caused by fears
of new attacks by the al-Qaeda network.
Police spokesman Suyatmo said the explosion at 11:00 pm Saturday (1500 GMT)
devastated the Padi bar and the Sari Club across the street, which has a garden that
is popular with young foreign tourists.
More than 100 casualties were ferried to Sanglah hospital in the Bali capital
Denpasar, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of the scene, he said.
"The bodies are just keep arriving here. It's difficult to identify them but most of them
are foreigners," an official at Sanglah hospital morgue who identified himself as
Wayan told AFP.
Wayan said 52 bodies were already at the morgue, and that another casualty believed
to be an Indonesian military policeman had been taken to the army hospital.
Bali police spokesman Suyatmo put the confirmed death toll at 32 -- including 18
foreigners. He said many bodies were charred or incomplete, making identification
difficult, and he warned the toll could rise.
"I believe that the blast was caused by a home-made bomb," he said, declining to
comment on speculation it was a car bomb.
Local journalists at scene said body parts were scattered across the site and on the
roofs of surrounding buildings, and that the blast left a deep hole on the street in front
of the two clubs.
The blast also caused a huge fire that burned the Sari Club, a large thatch roofed and
wood structure, for more than five hours, they said. At least 10 cars and 15
motorcycles were destroyed.
The first television pictures on the private Metro TV showed a huge fire and a nearly
naked foreign man on a stretcher, his face bloodied. It also showed rescuers wrapping
another body with a white cloth.
"There is a lot of damage and panicking within a radius of half a kilometre" of the
explosion, said a policeman on duty in the Kuta police precinct.
He said bomb squad officers and investigators were now combing the site.
The second explosion hit an area just 250 meters (yards) from the US consulate in
the Denpasar suburb of Renon, the police spokesman said.
"The blast took place on the side of the road and there was no one injured because
the home-made bomb was apparently thrown and exploded some 250 meters from the
US consulate general," Suyatmo told AFP.
He said the authorities had stepped up security at all entry and exit points to Bali,
which draws holidaymakers from across the world.
"All ports, and the airport, have been put under strict surveillance but we have not
closed the island," he said.
Bali, a postcard paradise island that is about 95 percent Hindu, is a magnet for
holidaymakers from Europe, Australia and the United States. Until now it has avoided
much of the unrest that has rocked Indonesia since the fall of the Suharto regime after
the 1997-98 financial crisis.
The United States has issued repeated warnings in recent months over fears
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, may be home to al-Qaeda
sympathisers.
After months of official denials, senior Indonesian military officials late last month said
they believed al-Qaeda may have a limited network in the country.
The change in Jakarta's attitude coincided with publication of the September 23
edition of Time magazine which cited a CIA report naming former Indonesian resident
Omar al-Faruq as al-Qaeda's top representative in Southeast Asia.
Al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti, was arrested in June by Indonesian authorities and handed over
to US custody. Under interrogation, he reportedly revealed plans by al-Qaeda to truck
bomb Western missions in Asia to mark the September 11 anniversary.
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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