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.