Bombs in Indonesian tourist resort kill 21

[Case]

It's now looking like hundreds of people were killed, and many of them are Australians

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taken from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2002/10/i...13061449_1.htm

At least 150 killed in Bali bomb blasts

Hospital officials in Bali say more than 150 people are confirmed dead, including an unknown number of Australians, after a huge bomb blast destroyed two crowded clubs in the tourist district of Kuta Beach.

The victims also include Britons, French and Canadians, and authorities say the death toll is likely to rise.

The explosion completely destroyed the Padi and Sari clubs on Kuta's main entertainment strip at around 11.00pm local time, causing damage to buildings as far as half a kilometre away.

The biggest bomb went off at the Sari Club in Legeon Street, which locals say has a policy of not admitting Indonesians, only Westerners, and this part of Kuta is a focal point for young Australians to stay and go clubbing in.

Eyewitnesses described a large crater in the street outside the Sari Club.

The blast also triggered an intense blaze that has burned for hours.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The attack destroyed 27 buildings, but police say most of the dead were inside the Sari Club.

A second blast occurred a few hundred metres from the US Consulate in Denpasar, but US officials say at this stage it is unclear if that building was the intended target.

Australian consular officials say the number of Australian casualties will not become clear for sometime.

Australians on group tours, many of them football clubs, have reported numbers yet to be accounted for.

Qantas has begun organising extra flights to evacuate Australian tourists from the island.

Australian and US officials had warned over past months of an increased risk of terror attacks against Westerners in Indonesia.

[Mr. President]

It's all on now.

[ranskaldan]

Numbers have gone up again: 171 dead and 274 wounded...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2085828,00.html

looks very major

[Gatekeeper]

Clubs that admit only Westerners? It's pure speculation on my part, but I'd think those would be perfect targets for terrorists, even moreso for those linked to al-Qaida, or al-Qaida itself.

Gatekeeper

[Ned]

I've heard a lot in the last year about 9/11 being about the hatred of the people of the world against America, and that somehow we need to change our foreign policy, etc., etc., but what has Australia done to deserve this - other than simply being a Western country?

[ranskaldan]

They are all allies of America.

Reminds me of the plot last year to blow up the US, British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Singapore.

[monkspider]

I had a friend on campus who lives in Indonesia. He worked in a club that was only for "rich westerners".

[schmoowithazing]

I had 3 friends over there.
Their plane flew in last night. I had news of them this morning. Thank goodness they are ok. The door to their room was blown off by the impact of one the blasts.

My condolences to those who have lost family/friends.

Schmoo

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by ranskaldan
They are all allies of America.

Imagine what it would be like if terrorists succeeded in splintering those alliances and reducing much of the West to political bickering and infighting.

That's something they would love to see: dissent that turns the attention *away* from them, allowing them to continue to pick apart smaller nations and turning them into bases for assaults on even more countries (the "Afghanistan Process," as I term it sometimes).

Crap like this, however, usually brings woe to the perpetrators. Apparently being part of the peaceful political process just doesn't have the same "ooh," and "ahh" effect with these bastards as seeing rivers of Western, "devil," and "infidel" blood does.

Gatekeeper

[Boris Godunov]

Toll is at 171 now...dear god.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Ned
I've heard a lot in the last year about 9/11 being about the hatred of the people of the world against America, and that somehow we need to change our foreign policy, etc., etc., but what has Australia done to deserve this - other than simply being a Western country?

It ensured that illegally occupied East Timor achieved its freedom- despite the Indonesian army, paramilitary groups and sponsored Timorese militias doing their best to wreck the vote and East Timor's future. I doubt that the bombers had Australians specifically in mind- 'Westerners' would do. Bali is still mainly Hindu, by the way.
Indonesia faces its own problems with Muslim separatists in resource rich Aceh province, and with continuing Muslim/Christian conflict in Maluku and an increasingly restive independence movement in West Papua.

[MOBIUS]

Australia and the UK are the US' major backers - the best way to strike at Australia is to attack Australia's top foreign holiday destination.

Pretty simple really...

The TV said 182+ dead

[Mr. President]

Current figures are at least 180 people dead and more than 250 people are injured.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/10/13/bali.blast/index.html

[lightblue]

And as Bali is a Hindu island, the economic repercussions don't hit Muslims to the same degree. Two birds, one stone...

[phoenixcager]

Originally posted by lightblue
And as Bali is a Hindu island, the economic repercussions don't hit Muslims to the same degree. Two birds, one stone...

MAybe, but it represents Indonesia's tourism industry. Without Bali they are basically sunk.

Reminds me of the plot last year to blow up the US, British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Singapore.

and that's why the chief suspects are now Jemaah Islamiah, the same group that was planning the Singapore bombings.