- Two Dead In Jakarta Car Bombing
- Muara Angke explosion was not bombing: Police
- Unexploded Bomb Found In JW Marriott Hotel In Jakarta -TVOne
- AP: Bombs hit Ritz, Marriott hotels in Indonesian capital,
killing 9, wounding 50
- Reuters: Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, wound 42 - police
- New Zealander killed in Indonesia bombing: PM
- AFP: Bombs kill nine in Jakarta hotels: police
- DJ/WSJ: Deadly Blasts Rock Jakarta Hotels;At Least 9 Dead
- ANALYSTS VIEWS-Indonesia Jakarta hotel bomb blasts
- AT A GLANCE: At Least 9 Dead In Jakarta Hotel Bomb Blasts
- Key attacks in Indonesia, history of Jemaah Islamiyah
- TIMELINE-Bomb attacks in Indonesia
---
Two Dead In Jakarta Car Bombing
JAKARTA (AFP)--An explosion in the Muara Angke area of northern
Jakarta on Friday was caused by a faulty car battery and not a
bomb, the national police spokesman said.
"The explosion at Muara Angke was not a bomb. The explosion came
from a pickup truck which had a faulty battery," police
spokesman Nanan Soekarna said, adding that a passenger in the
vehicle had been killed.
Senior police had earlier said the explosion was caused by a car
bomb and another earlier report said two people died in the
blast.
The blast in the northern part of the city came less than three
hours after two bombs rocked the luxury Ritz-Carlton and JW
Marriott hotels in an upmarket area of downtown Jakarta, killing
about nine people.
-----------------------
The Jakarta Post [website]
Friday, July 17, 2009
Muara Angke explosion was not bombing: Police
Traffic Director at the Jakarta Police Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono
confirmed that the explosion at Muara Angke Toll Gate was not
caused by a bomb.
"A pick-up was burnt after it had an electrical short circuit,"
he said.
According to Condro, the back part of the car was burnt. The
driver, whose identity was still unknown, was injured.
"It has nothing to do with the explosions at Mega Kuningan," he
said.
At least nine people were killed after two explosions hit
Marriot and Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel in Mega Kuningan business
district in South Jakarta.
At least 50 injured victims, including 16 foreigners, have been
treated at four hospital in the city. (bbs)
-----------------------
Unexploded Bomb Found In JW Marriott Hotel In Jakarta -TVOne
JAKARTA, July 17 (Dow Jones)--An unexploded bomb has been
located in the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta several hours after
twin bomb blasts hit the Marriott and the adjacent Ritz-Carlton
hotel, local television station TVOne reported Friday, citing
emergency personnel.
TVOne's report didn't specify whether there was a risk of
another explosion or what action was being taken to dispose the
bomb.
------------------------
Bombs hit Ritz, Marriott hotels in Indonesian capital, killing
9, wounding 50
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, July 17 (AP) - Bombs minutes apart ripped through two
luxury hotels in Jakarta Friday, killing nine and wounding at
least 50 more, ending a four-year lull in terror attacks in the
world's most populous Muslim nation. At least 14 foreigners were
among the dead and wounded.
The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located
side-by-side in an upscale business district in the capital,
blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the
street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. Facades of both
hotels were reduced to twisted metal.
Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into
the Marriott before emergency services arrived and "there were
bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," he said. "It
was terrible."
The Marriott, which was attacked in 2003 in a bombing blamed on
Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, was hit first,
followed by the blast at the Ritz two minutes later. The attacks
came just two weeks after presidential vote expected to re-elect
incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who has been credited with
stabilizing a nation previously wracked by militancy.
Local media reported that two people were killed in another
explosion in a car north Jakarta later Friday. Officials
confirmed a blast but said it did not appear to be related.
Security Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene
the hotel blasts happened at 7:45 a.m. and 7:47 a.m. (0045 GMT,
8:45 p.m. EDT) and that "high explosives were used." He said at
least nine people were killed and 50 wounded.
Anti-terror forces were rushed to the scene, and authorities
blocked access to the hotels in a district also home to foreign
embassies.
"This destroys our conducive situation," Sucipto said, referring
to the nearly four years since a major terrorist attack in
Indonesia -- a triple suicide bombing at restaurants at the
resort island of Bali that killed 20 people.
The security minister said a New Zealander was among those
killed, and that thirteen other foreigners were among the
wounded.
Earlier, South Jakarta police Col. Firman Bundi said that four
foreigners were killed, but gave no details.
Two U.S. officials said one American is believed to have been
injured but that has not yet been confirmed. The officials spoke
on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss the situation publicly.
The attacks came ahead of a high-profile trip by the Manchester
United football team to Indonesia. The team was scheduled to
stay at the Ritz on Saturday and Sunday nights for a friendly
match against the Indonesian All Stars, the Indonesian Football
association said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks,
but terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the likely
perpetrators were from the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.
"The only group with the intention and capability to mount
attacks upon Western targets in Jemaah Islamiyah. I have no
doubt Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for this attack," he said.
There has been a massive crackdown in recent years by
anti-terror officials in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim
nation of 235 million, but Gunaratna said the group was "still a
very capable terrorist organization."
Police have detained most of the key figures in the
Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and rounded up hundreds of
other sympathizers and lesser figures.
But Gunaratna said that radical ideologues sympathetic to JI
were still able to preach extremism in Indonesia, helping
provide an infrastructure that could support terrorism.
Jakarta chief of police operations, Arief Wahyunadi, said the
blasts were in the Ritz-Carlton's Airlangga restaurant and in
the basement of the Marriott. He gave no details on what kind of
bombs were used and whether they were suicide attacks.
Government spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told CNN the scene of the
blasts were "eerie," when he arrived.
"The bodies I saw, some were being collected, some were on the
floor," he said. "What we know, of course, is this was a
coordinated attack."
When asked if Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the attack, Djalal
said: "We always knew there are terrorists out there. But we've
had a number of very good successes; no major attacks since the
Bali bombings."
He was referring to the October 2002 bombings of two Bali
nightclubs that killed some 202 people, many of them foreign
tourists.
"This is a blow to us," Djalal said, but said the government
would find those behind the attacks.
"The president has built his reputation on ... anti-terrorism
policies," he said. "Make no mistake, he will hunt whoever is
behind this."
Because of past attacks, most major hotels in Jakarta take
security precautions, such as checking incoming vehicles and
requiring visitors to pass through metal detectors. Still,
international hotels make attractive targets, since the nature
of their business requires them to be relatively open and
accessible.
On Friday, Australia and New Zealand updated their travel
advisories, which had already warned against unnecessary travel
to Indonesia because of the risk of terrorism.
"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Indonesia
due to the very high threat of terrorist attack," the Australian
Foreign Ministry said on its Web site. Those in Indonesia were
warned to exercise "extreme caution."
New Zealand urged its citizens in Indonesia to keep a low
profile.
Britain also updated its travel warning, though it did not raise
its alert level.
Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in
Jakarta, Tanalee Smith in Adelaide, Australia, and Lara Jakes in
Chicago contributed to this report.
-----------------------
Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, wound 42 - police
By Telly Nathalia and Olivia Rondonuwu
JAKARTA, July 17 (Reuters) - Near-simultaneous bomb blasts
ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in
Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and
wounding 42 others including foreign businessmen, police said.
A car bomb had also exploded along a toll road in North Jakarta,
police said. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been
killed. No further details on that blast were available.
The bomb attacks, the first in several years, could badly dent
investor confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The
Indonesian government has made considerable progress in tackling
security threats from militant Islamic groups in recent years,
bringing a sense of greater political stability to the country.
Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April and presidential
elections earlier this month both passed peacefully,
underscoring the progress made by the world's most populous
Muslim nation since the chaos and violence that surrounded the
downfall of ex-autocrat Suharto in the late 1990s.
"After the elections going off so peacefully, the bomb blasts
have come as a shock. Investors will be keeping a close eye on
this one," said Singapore-based HSBC economist Prakriti Sofat.
Windows were shattered at both hotels, which are close to each
other in the Kuningan business area which is popular with
foreigners and Indonesians, with many bars, offices and
embassies.
Hundreds of police, some soldiers and ambulances were at the
scene of the hotel attacks. A Reuters witness said about 100
foreign and Indonesian hotel guests and office workers were
gathered outside, some still wearing bathrobes.
The windows in the first floor of the Ritz-Carlton were blown
out, indicating the blast may have been in the restaurant, which
would have been busy at that time of the morning.
The Marriott was badly damaged by a car bomb attack in 2003 that
killed 12 people.
Police said foreigners were among the dead on Friday. Tim
Mackay, president director of cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia,
was killed in the attacks, the company said.
Indonesian financial markets fell after the blasts, with the the
rupiah
state banks to sell dollars to support the currency, traders
said. Indonesian stocks <.JKSE> were down around 2 percent.
"I fell because of an explosion, I did not know where it came
from, but after I saw clearly it came from the left side of the
JW Marriott Hotel," said Yanuar, an employee at the Marriott.
TV footage showed a wounded man being carried out on a stretcher
with an oxygen mask attached to his face.
MANCHESTER UNITED WAS TO STAY AT RITZ
Lydia Ruddy, a witness who lives in the area, said she heard an
explosion and saw smoke coming from the Marriott, followed five
minutes later by another explosion at the Ritz-Carlton.
A Ritz Carlton employee said the Manchester United soccer team
had been due to stay at the hotel ahead of an exhibition game in
Indonesia early next week.
Islamist militants from the regional Jemaah Islamiah
organisation were blamed for numerous attacks between 2002-2005
in Indonesia, including bombings on the island of Bali in 2002
that killed 202 people. Many militants have since been arrested.
But an Australian security report on Thursday said Jemaah
Islamiah could be poised to strike again.
Leadership tensions in JI and recent prison releases of JI
members raised the possibility that splinter groups might now
seek to re-energise the movement through violent attacks, said
the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The
report said JI was now a splintered group which may not be
capable of replicating mass casualty attacks, but warned there
was evidence that JI members released from prison "are
gravitating towards hardline groups who continue to advocate al
Qaeda-style attacks against Western targets". "These hardline
groups continue to believe that the use of violence against the
"enemies of Islam" is justified under any circumstances," said
the report.
(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney, Harry
Suhartono in Singapore, Writing by Sara Webb, Editing by Dean
Yates)
--------------------------
New Zealander killed in Indonesia bombing: PM
JAKARTA, July 17 (AFP) -- New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
has confirmed that a New Zealander is among at least nine people
killed when bombs exploded in two luxury hotels in central
Jakarta on Friday.
The man, whose name was not immediately released, was said to
have been at the Marriott Hotel for a business meeting.
"While we are still receiving information from the embassy (in
Jakarta) about what happened, I would like to convey my deepest
sympathy to the family and friends of the New Zealander killed,"
Key said.
----------------------------
Bombs kill nine in Jakarta hotels: police
Presi Mandari
JAKARTA, July 17 (AFP) -- Bombs tore through two luxury hotels
in Jakarta on Friday killing at least nine people including
foreigners and leaving over 40 others injured, officials said.
Two blasts shook the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the nearby JW
Marriott in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in the
centre of the city around 8:00am (0100 GMT), sending a huge
plume of smoke into the sky.
A third explosion was reported near a shopping complex in the
north of the Indonesian capital several hours later, but police
later denied initial reports that it was also caused by a bomb.
"I heard two sounds like 'boom, boom' coming from the Marriott
and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out," security
guard Eko Susanto told AFP.
Blood was spattered on the street outside the Marriott and
hundreds of police sealed off the area, an AFP correspondent
said.
The bombings were the first major attack in Indonesia since a
series of suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2005
which were blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah
Islamic militant group.
"These were high explosive bombs," Coordinating Minister for
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto told
reporters at the scene.
Windows were blown out of a second-storey restaurant at the
Ritz-Carlton, but there was little damage to the Marriott that
was visible from outside.
Police said one blast hit the basement of the Marriott and a
second struck the restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton at the peak
breakfast hour.
Another witness told AFP he saw several foreigners covered in
blood in the immediate aftermath of the explosion at the
Marriott.
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna confirmed at least nine
people were killed and 41 were injured in the hotel blasts,
including 14 foreigners.
"I don't remember exactly but suddenly the ceiling is falling
down and the sound was big," Cho In Sang, 50-year-old South
Korean who was staying at the Ritz-Carlton, told AFP at the
Metropolitan Medical Centre (MMC) hospital.
Cho, who was lying on a hospital bed with cuts and scratches on
his arms and legs, said hotel staff had put him in a car and
driven him to hospital.
Police said it was too early to say whether the bombs were
planted by Islamic militants as in the attacks that killed 12
people at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003 and more than 200 in Bali
in 2002.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected to a
second term in the mainly Muslim country last week, was "deeply
concerned over this incident," a spokesman for his office said.
The Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been
blamed for a string of bombings on local and Western targets in
Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia in recent years.
As well as the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Marriott attack, JI
was also blamed for a suicide attack on the Australian embassy
in Jakarta in 2004 which left 10 dead and a second attack in
Bali in 2005 which killed 20.
JI has been linked by Western governments to the Al-Qaeda
network and key JI leader Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand
in 2003, was handed over to US custody and is being detained at
US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The Indonesian authorities arrested many of the top leadership
of JI in the aftermath of the Bali bombings and analysts
believed the organisation had been severely weakened.
However several key members remained at large including top
bombmaker Noordin Mohammed Top, a Malaysian.
Three members of JI were executed in November last year for
their role in the 2002 bombings in Bali, and analysts warned at
the time there could be reprisal attacks.
---------------------------
Deadly Blasts Rock Jakarta Hotels;At Least 9 Dead
By Tom Wright Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
JAKARTA, July 17 (Dow Jones)--Explosions ripped through the JW
Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta on Friday, killing
at least nine people, including a number of foreigners, police
said.
Authorities were acting on the assumption that the bombing was
carried out by Muslim extremists, said a senior counterterrorism
official.
The streets outside the two hotels, which sit adjacent to each
other in a new business district in central Jakarta, the
capital, were covered in shattered glass and debris. The facade
of the Ritz-Carlton was ripped off after an explosion in the
restaurant just before 8 a.m. local time while people were
having breakfast, police said.
One guest, a 27-year-old Indian businessman, said his company
selected the Marriott because "it was supposed to be the most
secure in Jakarta."
He said he was staying on the 26th floor. He heard a loud
explosion around 8 a.m., and rushed to the lobby. On the way, he
said he saw shattered glass around the restaurant, where people
had been enjoying breakfast, and saw five people lying face
down, covered in blood. "I was too shocked to check" if they
were alive or dead, he said. Afterward, he rushed out of the
hotel and waited with a large crowd outside, dressed in his
boxer shorts. He said he was able to reach several friends by
mobile phone who were still in the hotel, and who said they were
okay.
The attacks represent a serious setback for Indonesia, which
hasn't suffered a major terrorist attack since the 2005 bombings
of seafood restaurants on a Bali beach. The JW Marriott was the
target of an earlier bombing in 2003, in which 12 people died.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who appeared to
win re-election this month with 60% of the vote, is popular for
restoring law and order to Indonesia, home to the world's
largest Muslim population, since coming to power in 2004.
Jemaah Islamiyah, a local Muslim terrorist network linked to al
Qaeda, has been largely broken up after scores of arrests.
Jemaah Islamiyah carried out an earlier Bali nightclub bombing
in 2002 that killed 202 people, as well as the first attack on
the Marriott and a 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in
Jakarta. In November, authorities executed three members of the
group for carrying out the Bali bombings.
The U.S. government, meanwhile, has hailed Indonesia's
counterterrorism campaign as one of the world's leading
successes in the global campaign against al Qaeda and its
affiliates. The U.S. and Australia have trained a special police
antiterrorism unit called Detachment 88, which is credited with
severely disrupting Jemaah Islamiyah's operations across the
Indonesian archipelago. The terrorist organization's former
leader, Hambali, was captured in Thailand in 2004 and is
currently being held in Guantanamo Bay.
The Obama administration has also cited Indonesia as a model for
the Islamic world because of its successful transition from an
authoritarian government under the late dictator, Suharto, to an
open and democratic political system. Only a small number of
Indonesia's 240 million people adhere to a strict version of
Islam, and support for terrorist attacks is low.
Ansyaad Mbai, head of the counterterrorism desk at Indonesia's
Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs, said
it was too early to officially say who carried out the attacks
before the police conduct an investigation. But he pointed out
that Islamist terrorists still have the capacity to mount
attacks.
Just three days ago, police uncovered explosive materials in a
house in Central Java, while searching for Noordin Mohammad Top,
a Malaysian master bomb maker who is wanted in connection with a
number of recent attacks, including the earlier Marriott attack
and the strikes on Bali nightclubs and the Australian embassy,
Mbai said. "Noordin Top is still free and he has the capacity to
make bombs," he said.
Investors seemed to be taking the attacks in stride early
Friday. Jakarta's benchmark stock index opened down more than 2%
but later rose about 0.2% in early Friday trading. In currency
markets, the Indonesian rupiah fell against the U.S. dollar, and
dealers said Indonesia's central bank sold dollars Friday
morning to maintain the currency's strength. Other Asian markets
were unaffected, with market watchers saying previous terrorist
attacks in Indonesia had minimal regional impact.
"Unless this event is the beginning of an increased frequency of
these attacks, then I think the impact will quickly fade and
we'll go back to thinking about Indonesia the same way we were
thinking about it the instant before this hit the headlines,
which was very positive," said Tim Condon, an economist at ING
in Singapore. "My baseline scenario is there won't be another
attack."
Still, Friday's attacks shattered the sense that Jakarta was
becoming too secure for terrorists to hit. Despite the
high-profile bombing of the Marriott in 2003, the area around
the hotel-which includes foreign embassies-has remained
extremely popular among well-to-do Indonesians and foreign
business travelers, and there was a perception that security had
been increased to such a degree that a repeat attack was
unlikely if not impossible. Among other steps, most upscale
hotels in Jakarta have added metal detectors and security guards
in recent years.
The bombings in Jakarta are the latest in a series of attacks on
luxury, foreign-branded hotels in Asia in South and Southeast
Asia. In June, nine people were killed in an attack on the Pearl
Continental hotel in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. Last
September, at least 54 people were killed and more than 250
injured when a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden truck
outside a Marriott-branded hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The most brazen and deadly attack was carried out in Mumbai last
November when 10 young men arrived in the city by boat from
Karachi and laid siege to three of the Indian city's landmark
hotels: the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, and a complex housing the
Oberoi and Trident hotels. The attacks left more than 170 dead,
including nine attackers.
Luxury hotels present a high-profile target for terrorists. As
accommodations, restaurants and gathering places, they can't
seal themselves off entirely. In India's big cities after the
Mumbai attacks, security was heightened, but already, standards
are being relaxed. As destinations for foreign travelers and
businesspeople, an attack on a hotel is guaranteed global media
coverage and to potentially deter tourism and foreign trade.
-------------------------
ANALYSTS VIEWS-Indonesia Jakarta hotel bomb blasts
JAKARTA, July 17 (Reuters) - Near-simultaneous bomb blasts
ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in
Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and
injuring 42 including foreigners and Indonesians, police said.
A car bomb had also exploded along a toll road in north Jakarta,
police said. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been
killed. No further details on that blast were available.
The bomb attacks, the first in several years, could severely
dent investor confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
The Indonesian government had made considerable progress in
tackling security threats from militant Islamists in recent
years, bringing a sense of greater political stability.
Islamist militants from the regional Jemaah Islamiah
organisation were blamed for numerous attacks between 2002-2005
in Indonesia, including bombings on the island of Bali in 2002
that killed 202 people. Many militants have since been arrested.
CALLUM HENDERSON, CHIEF GLOBAL CURRENCY STRATEGIST, STANDARD
CHARTERED BANK, SINGAPORE
"This is a tragic event. Market reaction to date has been
relatively muted in anticipation that the government will stay
on course and that policies will remain unchanged.
"Indonesia remains a fundamentally good story, thanks in large
part to the excellent policies of the government in the last few
years.
"It will take time to stabilise again, but we remain overweight
on the rupiah."
SEAN CALLOW, CURRENCY STRATEGIST, WESTPAC, SYDNEY
"I would say it damages foreign investor confidence since the
attacks appear aimed at Westerners, but not shatter it, so long
as there is no further violence for some time.
"Bank Indonesia should be able to keep a lid on dollar/rupiah
short term, but it will have a lasting negative impact
multi-week, multi-month.
"It solidifies my short-term bias towards buying dollar/rupiah
on dips, especially since the rupiah is still up 18 percent
since March."
TIM CONDON, HEAD OF ASIA RESEARCH, ING, SINGAPORE
"I liken it to North Korea risks to South Korean assets.
Typically it causes a short spike in selling pressure -- but the
operative word is short.
"Indonesia is vulnerable and the attacks are negative but people
know these are impossible to predict and they are part of the
economic landscape. It doesn't totally eclipse all of the other
investor positives -- the economic fundamentals and the
political fundamentals.
"The cost of protecting debt from Indonesia
of the most frequent Asian sovereign issuers in the offshore
market, was unchanged at 280/295 basis points."
RAYMOND TANG, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CIMB ASSET MANAGEMENT,
KUALA LUMPUR
"We are still positive on the economy and the developments
there, despite the bombings. On a long-term perspective, we have
not changed our view.
"We're positive on the banking, the resources and the consumer
sectors.
"You'll get kneejerk reaction but if you look at how the
Indonesian market has responded up to now, it's down 1.3 percent
and the currency is down half a percent ... I think people are
more positive than negative."
KEVIN O'ROURKE, POLITICAL RISK ANALYST, REFORMASI WEEKLY
"I think the attacks are devastating for the image of security
that Indonesia has built up painstakingly over the past four
years.
"The attack is particularly severe for investor confidence
because it took place despite strenuous counter-terrorist
efforts by the government and has affected the hotels that are
seen to be among the most secure in Jakarta and also either
killed or wounded numerous prominent expatriate businesspeople."
O'Rourke said he suspected Jemaah Islamiah was responsible.
"It's an explosion in a hotel. Jemaah Islamiah perpetrate
explosions in hotels." WAWAN PURWANTO, ANALYST AT NGO NATIONAL
EMPOWERMENT BOARD, JAKARTA "It is a high-tension period and it
is likely to remain like that until October when the president
is inaugurated.
"We already predicted this as we have seen some unknown
movements after the election, like the incidents in Papua. So if
something like this happens, it's not a surprise.
"We will not make any assumption (as to who is behind the
attacks) before seeing hard evidence."
PRAKRITI SOFAT, ECONOMIST AT HSBC, SINGAPORE
"After the elections going off so peacefully, the bomb blasts
have come as a shock. We don't have all the details now but
investors will be keeping a close eye on this one."
JOANNA TAN, ECONOMIST, FORECAST PTE, SINGAPORE "I think investor
confidence will definitely be shaken after this but ultimately,
the positives from SBY continuing a second term and relatively
good performance in the economy should keep investor confidence
supported." (Reporting by Tyagita Silka, Dicky Kristanto in
Jakarta, Kevin Yao in Singapore; Editing by Sara Webb and Jerry
Norton)
------------------------
Dow Jones Newswire Friday, July 17, 2009
AT A GLANCE: At Least 9 Dead In Jakarta Hotel Bomb Blasts
THE EVENT: Explosions ripped through the JW Marriott and
Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta early Friday, killing at least
nine people, including a number of foreigners, police said.
Authorities were acting on the assumption that the bombing was
carried out by Muslim extremists.
PT Holcim Indonesia (SMCB.JK) Chief Executive Timothy Mackay was
among those killed. A New Zealander, an Australian and a South
Korean were among the injured, reports said.
The streets outside the two hotels, which sit adjacent to each
other in a new business district in central Jakarta were covered
in shattered glass and debris. The facade of the Ritz-Carlton
was ripped off after an explosion in the restaurant while people
were having breakfast, police said.
MARKET REACTION: Jakarta's benchmark stock index opened down
more than 2% after the blasts but then rose off its lows and was
recently down 1.5%.
The U.S. dollar hit its highest level against the rupiah since
June 29, trading at IDR10,205, from its close Thursday at
IDR10,130. Bank Indonesia was suspected to have sold at least
$20 million to $30 million to shore up the rupiah, and recently
the dollar was near IDR10,180.
Indonesia's credit default swaps were quoted wider with the
five-year at 280-230 basis points after trading at 275 basis
points Thursday. But there had been no trades.
Other Asian markets were unaffected, with market watchers saying
previous terrorist attacks in Indonesia had minimal regional
impact.
Holchim Indonesia's shares were down 3%.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said the blasts are unlikely
to alter the country's positive macroeconomic situation, while
Fitch Ratings said the news won't change the country's credit
fundamentals.
Indonesia's sovereign Samurai bond is still expected to price
Friday despite the blasts, a person close to the deal said.
Indonesia is expected to offer 10-year Samurai bonds with a
guarantee from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
BACKGROUND: The attacks represent a serious setback for
Indonesia, which hasn't suffered a major terrorist attack since
the 2005 bombings of seafood restaurants on a Bali beach. The JW
Marriott was the target of an earlier bombing in 2003, in which
12 people died. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
who appeared to win re-election this month with 60% of the vote,
is popular for restoring law and order to Indonesia, home to the
world's largest Muslim population, since coming to power in 2004.
-------------------------
Agence France Presse Friday, July 17, 2009
Key attacks in Indonesia, history of Jemaah Islamiyah
At least nine people were killed and more than 40 injured, many
of them foreigners, on Friday when bombs exploded at two luxury
hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, officials said.
Police said it was too soon to say who might have been
responsible, but Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
has been blamed for a string of suicide attacks on local and
Western targets in Southeast Asia in recent years.
The bombings were the first major attack in Indonesia since a
series of suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2005
blamed on JI.
Here is a chronology of key attacks in Indonesia since 2000, and
events in JI's history:
1993: Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar
found JI while in exile in Malaysia from dictator Suharto's
regime.
December 24, 2000: Improvised bombs disguised as Christmas gifts
delivered to churches and clergymen kill 19 people and injure
scores more across Indonesia.
December 30, 2000: Twenty-two people killed in a series of
bombings in the Philippines blamed on Al-Qaeda-trained bomb
expert Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi, alias Randy Ali.
June 2001: Mohammed Iqbal bin Abdurraham, aka Abu Jibril,
arrested in Malaysia. US State Department freezes his assets two
years later, saying he had been JI's "primary recruiter and
second-in-command."
January 15, 2002: Al-Ghozi arrested in the Philippines. He
escapes in July 2003 and is killed in a shootout with police
three months later.
October 12, 2002: Bombs at crowded nightspots in the resort
island of Bali kill 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Three men -- Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra -- are convicted
of carrying out the bombings and sentenced to death but the
suspected mastermind, Malaysian Noordin Mohammad Top, is at
large.
August 5, 2003: A car bomb tears through the JW Marriott hotel
in Jakarta, killing 12 people and wounding 149 others.
August 11, 2003: Key JI leader Hambali, accused among other
things of plotting to blow up US airliners, is captured in
Thailand and handed over to US custody.
September 9, 2004: A suicide car bomb kills 10 outside the
Australian embassy in Jakarta.
March 3, 2005: Bashir is sentenced to two-and-a-half years in
prison after being found guilty of a "sinister conspiracy
against the state." He is released in June 2006 and his
conviction is later overturned on appeal.
May 28, 2005: Twin bomb blasts kill 22 in a market in the
Central Sulawesi town of Tentena in an attack bearing the
hallmarks of JI.
The bombings come as JI moves to provoke a "holy war" between
Muslims and Christians amid a local sectarian conflict that
claims around 1,000 lives.
October 1, 2005: Three suicide bombers detonate explosives at
tourist spots on Bali, killing 20.
Police track down alleged bomb-maker Azahari Husin, a compatriot
and ally of Noordin, and kill him in a volley of gunfire on
November 9 on Java island.
June 9, 2007: Police arrest self-proclaimed JI leaders Zarkasi
and Abu Dujana in Java. Both men are sentenced to 15 years in
prison in April 2008.
June 28-July 2, 2008: Police round up 10 members of an alleged
cell linked to Noordin in South Sumatra.
November 9, 2008: Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra
are executed by firing squad.
July 17, 2009: At least nine people are killed and 41 injured,
many of them foreigners, when bombs exploded in the Ritz-Carlton
and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta. Police said it was too soon
to say who might have been responsible.
A third explosion was reported near a shopping complex several
hours later, but police later denied that it was also caused by
a bomb.
--------------------------
TIMELINE-Bomb attacks in Indonesia
SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) - Bomb blasts at two hotels in
Jakarta's business district killed nine people and wounded 42
others on Friday, Indonesian police said.
Bombings in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
have commonly been blamed on militant Islamic groups, but
criminal gangs, ethnic strife and politics have also been cited
as possible causes in some cases.
Following is a timeline of major blasts in Indonesia.
Aug 1, 2000 - Philippine ambassador is among dozens wounded in a
blast outside his Jakarta home. Two people are killed.
Sept 13, 2000 - Blast at stock exchange in Jakarta kills 15 and
wounds dozens.
Dec 24, 2000 - Series of Christmas Eve blasts at Jakarta
churches and elsewhere in the country kill 17 people and wound
about 100. At first thought by some to have political
motivations, the blasts are later tied to Jemaah Islamiah.
Oct 12, 2002 - Blasts on the tourist island of Bali kill 202
people, many of them foreign tourists, including 88 Australians.
Three of the "Bali bombers" from the al Qaeda-linked group
Jemaah Islamiah are executed by firing squad in November 2008.
Dec 5, 2002 - Blast in a McDonald's restaurant in eastern town
of Makassar kills three.
Aug 5, 2003 - Bomb outside JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta kills 12
people, including a Dutchman, and wounds 150. Jemaah Islamiah is
blamed.
Jan 10, 2004 - Four people are killed by a bomb in a karaoke
cafe in Palopo on Sulawesi island.
Sept 9, 2004 - A powerful bomb explodes near the Australian
embassy in central Jakarta killing 10 Indonesians and wounding
more than 100. Jemaah Islamiah is blamed for the attack.
Nov 13, 2004 - An explosion near a police station on the eastern
island of Sulawesi kills five people and wounds four.
May 28, 2005 - Two bombs rip through a busy market in a
Christian town in eastern Indonesia, killing 22 people.
Oct 2, 2005 - Suicide bombers linked to Jemaah Islamiah set off
three bombs on Bali that kill 20 people, including some foreign
tourists. More than 100 people were wounded.
July 17, 2009 - Bomb blasts at the JW Marriott and the
Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's business district kill nine
people and wound 42.
Source: Reuters
(Compiled by Gillian Murdoch; Editing by Dean Yates)
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