Bomb Rips Through Indonesia Hotel, Kills 14

[drdon326]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030805/ts_nm/indonesia_blast_dc_15

- A huge car bomb ripped through one of the top hotels in Indonesia's capital on Tuesday, killing 14 people and wounding about 150.

The city's governor said a suicide bomber was probably responsible for the attack on the JW Marriott Hotel -- the second major blast to hit Indonesia in less than a year.

It was timed as thousands of workers poured out of offices for lunch and mosques called the faithful to prayer.

The blast ripped through the lobby and set fire to cars and taxis out front. Many windows in the 33-storey hotel were blown out. Wreckage from the charred lobby was strewn over a wide area.

Diners were eating lunch in restaurants and cafes in the hotel and in a nearby office tower when the blast blew out windows and showered people with shards of glass.

snip

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said, "There is a strong possibility this was a suicide bomber," while Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil was more blunt, calling it an act of terrorism.

Washington said last week that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network was planning new suicide hijackings and bombings in the United States and abroad. The U.S. embassy held its 4th of July independence celebrations at the hotel.

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terrorism...when you care enough to send the very best.

i cant imagine who could commit this atrocity.

[LeftistGorilla]

1. Indonesia is in big trouble...

bombings, non-existant tourism and watch their economy tank big time...

The explosion hit Indonesia's financial markets

and DrDon... you're not funny...

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Why Indonesia could get into big trouble...

Bombings aren't something new in Indonesia and this one won't send foreign investors packing. The ones that stayed after 97 or whenever it was that Indonesia had the economic crisis won't leave over this bombing. I heard one Australian company say all it would do is send its people to three star hotels in future. Probably the Bali Bombings hit tourism harder than this one hit financial interests, and the tourists are returning...

Where Indonesia could get into trouble is if they react too harshly to this bombing and take control out of civilian hands and keep it to themselves. Indonesia spent too long under Suharto's dictatorship for the people to be too comfortable with the govt taking draconian measures that affect them directly....

p.s. I agree with you about drdon not being funny. It's sort of like watching the obligatory drunk, stupid guy at ever barbeque doing his boring party trick of banging his head against a few bricks to try to break them and while he thinks he's hilarious everyone else got bored of it the first time he mashed his nose to bits and wishes he'd lay off the booze for a bit and start making some sense...

Violet...

[newyorican]

2. US Embassy Cancels booking 5 hrs before blast

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=53029&mesg_id=53029

Story in Indonesian

Translation: US Embassy cancelled the booking of Marriott Hotel 4.5 hours before the explosion There was something interesting happened just hours before the explosion shocked the JW Marriott Hotel, Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta. The US Embassy cancelled the booking of 10-20 rooms in that hotel. The cancellation was on 8.00 West Indonesian Time, Tuesday, or only 4.5 hours before the explosion. full translation

:tinfoilhat: