Melbourne builds garden for Bali victims

Melbourne builds garden for Bali victims

A garden memorial to victims of the terrorist bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali opened in the southern city of Melbourne on Monday, three months after the attack.

More than 80 relatives and friends of those killed in the Oct. 12 bombings at two nightclubs in Bali gathered near Victoria state's Parliament House for a memorial service to open the site.

Thousands of floral tributes that were laid on the steps of the Parliament in the weeks following the terrorist attack were collected and turned into mulch to form the base for the garden.

Dave Stewart, whose son Anthony was one of 88 Australians killed in the blast, said the garden would provide a place for families to come and remember their loved ones.

"Hopefully they'll put a chair here so we can sit down ... we're gonna miss them like hell, all of the families are," Stewart said.

More than 190 people died in the blasts.

Also Monday, Australian Federal Police confirmed Indonesian police findings in December that DNA tests showed a man identified as Iqbal detonated one of the two bombs that destroyed two Bali nightclubs.

Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said tests at their forensic laboratory in Canberra showed Iqbal had died at Paddy's Bar.

However, Keelty could not confirm whether Iqbal had purposely detonated the bomb.

"The reality is that we will never be sure if Iqbal was a suicide bomber," he said.

Authorities have blamed the attack on an al-Qaida-linked terror group known as Jamaah Islamiyah, whose alleged goal is to establish a pan-Islamic state throughout Southeast Asia. -- AP