Police check if suicide bombers behind Bali blasts
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-02 10:54

Yudhoyono said it was too soon to blame anyone, but security experts said the strikes bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, a network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda.

Police said three blasts hit separate restaurants packed with evening diners, two at outdoor seafood eateries on Jimbaran Beach and one at a steak bar at Kuta Beach in an area surrounded by shops and jammed with pedestrians, including children.

HARD TO PREVENT

Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security expert, told Reuters it was difficult to prevent such attacks. "It's just a very hard place to protect if you look at where they hit."

" ... places like Kuta Square, those are just big shopping areas and they're basically outdoors on the street," he said, referring to one of the blast sites near the scene of the 2002 explosions.

Ketut Suartana, 33, said he was eating at Jimbaran when the first bomb exploded. The second came just minutes later.

"We were eating and suddenly it just went dark. I tried to run but I kept falling over. Then the second blast happened," said Suartana, lying on a hospital bed with scratch marks over his face and chest.

"People were in panic. I just tried to save myself."

Bali's Sanglah hospital said 25 dead had been brought in. So far 15 bodies had been identified, comprising 12 Indonesians, including a six-year-old boy, two Australians and a Japanese national. Australia said three of its citizens were feared dead.

The wounded included 17 Australians, six South Koreans, three Americans, three Japanese and one Briton.

Doctors and medics worked through the night treating the wounded, many still looking stunned and covered in blood.

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