Bombs in Indonesian tourist resort kill 21

[Case]

Apparently 115 of those in hospital are Australians. I'm getting a really nasty feeling that a similar percentage of the dead are also Aussies.

They were saying on the news that there's a very high probability that the attack was specifically aimed at Australia.

[Alexander's Horse]

This is why I didn't watch the news tonight

[chequita guevara]

187 dead so far, and many of the survivors have lost limbs.

[Alexander's Horse]

Unless there's some sort of gangland war going on there, it was definitely targeted at Australians if it was at Kuta.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Horrible weekend for two of the largest non-US groups on Apolyton. My condolences.

[Foetus]

My wife landed there for the first leg of her holiday 3 hours before the bomb went off. Heard from her this morning though, which was a great relief, and she's about 10 miles away from Kuta.

[Lincoln]

An interesting article from last year:

By IAN MUNRO Saturday 3 November 2001

Mullah Zaeef: Any people when they join with the Americans, they are Americans for us ...

Question: What about Australians in Australia?

Zaeef: Any, any, any person ...

Question: So the jihad could be extended to Australia?

Zaeef: Yes, yes, yes, this is clear, including the Afghan people and if they are joining with Americans in coming to Afghanistan the jihad is clear for any person which wants to accomplish the purpose of the Americans.

In halting, at times barely audible comments to an ABC news crew, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, seemed to conjure for Australians their own round of hijackings and bioterror-ism scares.

Yet the so-called jihad against Australia was nothing more than a declaration that Afghans would defend themselves, the leader of Victoria's Islamic community, Sheik Fehmi El Imam, said yesterday.

Sheik Fehmi said there was no threat to "innocent people in Australia" and the call would be disregarded by local Muslims.

According to Dr Andrew Vincent, of Macquarie University's Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, it was ludicrous to suggest that one of the poorest and most backward places in the world could wage a jihad in Australian territory.

While Muslim leaders and scholars were generally dismissive of the threat of "holy war" being visited upon Australia, Prime Minister John Howard said it was not unexpected and the country's security forces were in a state of heightened alert.

"We can't ignore it, but we should not overreact," he said.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said Australia would not be deterred by the threat.

"We should not be intimidated by those sorts of statements, not at all. We have made the right decisions in committing ourselves in this struggle," he said...

[Winston]

My thoughts also are with the Australians and other people who have suffered from this terrible, cowardly attack.

[Lincoln]

I don't know of all the popular places where Australians spend their holidays but I would think that Thailand would also be a target as well if this is going to be their method of operation. This type of jihad is going to unite the world eventually, or maybe I should say it will divide it into two camps.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Could someone change the thread title to show a more significant number?

[Pekka]

omg it was a huge bombing then.. our news said foreigners were targeted, which was not a surprise.
Condolences to Australian people and all others who are feeling it (for example 2 Swedes).

[Mr. President]

Indonesia's reaction will be interesting. It's worth noting that such edifying groups as Jemaat Islamiyah and Laskar Jihad are not illegal in that country.

[Hueij]

One remark about the "people" who did this. Everyone seems convinced that it was done by Islamic fanatics but no group has claimed it yet. And this being Indonesia it could well be the Indonesian army that is involved in this (with their record in East Timor and the religious violence in the Moluccans). Destabilizing parts of Indonesia always has been a tactic for them. Maybe they just created their own excuse to crack down on Islamic fundamentilist groups and at the same time endearing the US government to them...

Just a "conspiricy theory" by a Dutch professor on Dutch television that makes a lot of sense when you think about it...

[Case]

Aparently 13 Australians have been confirmed dead, and another 220 are missing. While most of the missing will probably turn up alive, this isn't looking good

[Mr. President]

That's interesting, Hueij, but Megawati is dependant on conservative Islamic support. A crackdown could threaten her control over the country. She's now in Musharraf's position: if she cracks down, many of her own people will declare her the enemy, but if she fails to crack down, the West will declare her the enemy.