JP\/4\/polri<\/p>\n
Bali gears up for third anniversary of 2002 bombings<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Police will launch a major security operation for the third
\ncommemoration on Wednesday of the Oct. 12, 2002 bombings on the
\nresort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign
\ntourists.<\/p>\n
Bali Police spokesman Sr. Com. A.S. Reniban said the operation
\nwould involve some 3,000 security officers, including Balinese
\nsecurity guards called pecalang.<\/p>\n
\"We will deploy some 1,500 police officers, assisted by
\npecalang and military officers. So in total they will be around
\n3,000 personnel,\" Reniban said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Separately, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko was
\nquoted by Antara as saying his office was also increasing its
\nintelligence activities on the island ahead of the Oct. 12
\ncommemoration.<\/p>\n
The anniversary falls just 12 days after a second round of
\nbomb blasts in Bali, which killed at least 23 people, including
\nthree suicide bombers, and injured more than 100 others.<\/p>\n
The police are now working hard to identify the bombers and
\nhave widened the hunt outside Bali for the masterminds of the
\nlatest attack. However, no significant progress has been achieved
\nin the investigation a week after the incident.<\/p>\n
Two suspected key players in both attacks, Malaysian fugitives
\nNoordin M. Top and Azahari bin Husin, are the main targets of the
\nintensive hunt.<\/p>\n
Photos of the heads of the three suicide bombers, which
\nsurvived the blasts almost intact, have been widely circulated
\nbut no one has identified them. Police say they are from a \"new
\ngeneration\" of attackers unknown to previously convicted
\nmilitants.<\/p>\n
Reniban further said the police were tightening security in
\nevery entrance point to Bali, including the Gilimanuk and Padang
\nBai seaports and the Ngurah Rai International Airport.<\/p>\n
Apart from that, he added, intelligence activities would also
\nbe intensified at a number of tourist spots such as Kuta,
\nJimbaran, Nusa Dua and Sanur.<\/p>\n
Reniban said the island was ready for the commemoration.<\/p>\n
He said people were generally feeling secure, including in the
\nrecent celebration of Galungan, despite the fact that some places
\nwere still deserted as some tourists had left the island.<\/p>\n
Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer -- whose country
\nlost 88 people in the 2002 attacks and four on Oct. 1 -- will be
\namong those attending the commemoration event. Also present will
\nbe other top national and foreign figures.<\/p>\n
One ceremony will be held early on Wednesday at \"Ground Zero\"
\n-- the scene of the blasts in Legian, Kuta -- one in the morning
\ninvolving the visiting Australian dignitaries and another in the
\nlate evening for the local community, Reniban said.<\/p>\n
Bali's crucial tourism industry, severely devastated by the
\n2002 nightclub blasts, has suffered another setback following the
\nOct. 1 attack.<\/p>\n
Victims of the latest blasts are still recovering in hospital,
\nsome with terrible wounds from the bombs, which were packed with
\nball bearings and shrapnel to maximize death and injury.<\/p>\n
Made Ardani, 22, was working as a waitress at the Menega cafe
\nin Jimbaran when the first bomb exploded.<\/p>\n
She is recovering from surgery to remove metal pellets from
\nsix different parts of her body.<\/p>\n
\"I am still feeling unwell. All I can think of is that those
\nbombers should be brought here and handed over to my relatives,\"
\nArdani was quoted by AFP as saying in Sanglah Hospital.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp4polri-1447899208",
"image": ""
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