The Jakarta Post, 10/14/2002 8:31:49 PM
Defense Minister believes al-Qaeda behind Bali bomb blast
JAKARTA (JP): Defense minister Matori Abdul Djalil blamed Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda terrorist group for the bomb blast incident in Bali which claimed almost 200
lives on Saturday night.
"I believe that al-Qaeda is linked with what happened in Bali," Defense minister Matori
Abdul Djalil told a press conference in Jakarta on Monday quoted by DPA.
"This incident makes me believe that an al-Qaeda network exists in Indonesia," the
minister said, although he provided no proof al-Qaeda was behind the Bali bombings.
The death toll from two powerful bombs that rocked Bali's popular Kuta entertainment
district over the weekend reached 187 on Monday, ranking as the bloodiest terrorist
attack this year.
"Many of the bodies will be hard if not impossible to identify because they are only
bits and pieces or have been badly burned," said Bali's Sanglah Hospital
spokeswoman Agung.
Staff at Sanglah Hospital, Bali's biggest hospital where most of the bomb victims were
taken, were able to identify only 38 of the dead, including 10 Australians, nine
Indonesians, eight British, five Singaporeans, and one national each from Equador,
France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States.
Another 300 people were injured in the explosions.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
