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

The blasts are another blow to the tourism industry, the island's lifeblood, which only recently recovered from the devastating 2002 blasts. Bali has been packed with tourists in recent weeks, many of them young Australians. Restaurants, hotels and shops were brimming with visitors in similar numbers to pre-October 2002 levels.

HALLMARKS OF JEMAAH ISLAMIAH

Police have blamed Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which intelligence experts say is al Qaeda's southeast Asian network, for a series of attacks against Western targets in the world's most populous Muslim nation, including the 2002 Bali blasts. The group has launched roughly one major attack each year since then.

"We will catch the perpetrators and punish them," Yudhoyono said in Jakarta, adding he would go to Bali on Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday the bombings were aimed at undermining the moderate leadership in Indonesia that is a threat to Islamic extremism.

He also ordered assistance to blast victims.

"I've given instructions that medical evacuation be offered to anybody who needs medical evacuation irrespective of nationality," he told Australian television.

A spokesman for Qantas Airways, Australia's biggest airline, said it planned to fly a 230-seat Boeing 767 aircraft to Bali later on Sunday carrying medical and security teams and it would return to Australia with passengers wanting to leave Bali.

Bali, 960 km (595 miles) east of Jakarta, is Indonesia's most popular destination for foreign tourists. Australia advised its citizens on Sunday to defer non-essential travel to Indonesia, saying the possibility of further attacks could not be ruled out.

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