Report finds no specific Bali warning

Report finds no specific Bali warning

Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia

Australia did not receive a specific warning about the 2002 Bali bombings but government travel warnings ahead of the attack still represented "a failure of intelligence", according to a parliamentary report released on Thursday.

The Senate report said travel advisories issued by the foreign affairs department failed to warn Australians they could be targeted because of their country's involvement in the war on terror, even though intelligence agencies knew of the threat from extremist groups such as Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

"The committee considered that travel advice about Bali being calm and tourism normal reinforced the view that Bali was safe, exactly when the terrorist threat to Westerners in Bali was at the highest it had been," committee chairman Steve Hutchins said.

"The advice sent the wrong message," he added.

The October 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and have been referred to as "Australia's 9/11".

Australia tightened its travel advice for Bali after the attack and continues to warn of a high terrorist risk in Indonesia, sparking repeated protests from Jakarta that it is overstating the danger.

The Australian government faced allegations after the attack that it had ignored U.S. intelligence warning about potential attacks on Westerners in bars and clubs in Indonesia.

The intelligence prompted the U.S. to warn its citizens to avoid bars, restaurants and nightclubs in Bali two days before the attack, while Australia's travel advice told its tourists Bali was "business as usual".

The report found no evidence to support the claim that Australia received a specific warning about Bali.

"The committee is completely satisfied that, on the basis of all the evidence arrayed before it, there was no specific warning of the Bali attack," it said.

The committee called for a further inquiry into the link between intelligence assessments and travel advisories and regulations to ensure travel agents provided warnings to tourists when they bought tickets to a destination.