Terrorists strike again

Terrorists strike again

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The terrorists once again struck at the heart of the nation's
capital on Tuesday, with no warning as always, this time claiming
14 innocent lives and putting the government's antiterrorism
drive seriously to the test.

A high explosive device planted in a van went off at the
entrance to the JW Marriott Hotel in the Mega Kuningan business
district in South Jakarta at around 12:45 a.m, when most people
working in the area were having lunch. At least 149 people were
injured in the blast, the fifth to rock Jakarta this year.

The explosion comes less than one month after a blast shook
the national legislative complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Tuesday's blast is the first major bombing to have hit the
country since bombs ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy's Cafe
in the packed tourist resort of Kuta, Bali, last October, killing
202 people, mostly foreigners, and injuring 300 others.

The hotel bombing took place just two days before the Denpasar
District Court is due to hand down its verdict on one of the Bali
bombing suspects, Amrozi, who faces the death sentence if
convicted.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited the scene, said that it was
a suicide car bombing.

Susilo said the government would announce a new government
security policy on Wednesday aimed at overcoming and preventing
terrorism.

He asked people to be prepared to accept the sort of
restrictions that could raise the hackles of human rights
campaigners.

"The government will impose these restrictions as we are
determined to prevent the deaths of more victims. Their lives are
worth more than the price of human rights," he said.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the police
had identified similarities between the Bali bombings and the
Marriott bombing.

"We have found similarities based on our preliminary
investigations at the blast site. For instance, the car carrying
the bomb was totally destroyed, as was the case in Bali," he
said.

Da'i said police had found the car's engine, pieces of its
radiator, its chassis registration number and a license plate.

"We're tracking down the owner of the Toyota Kijang minivan,"
he said.

Last month, police seized over 1,000 bomb detonators, 30 bags
of potassium chlorate weighing 30 kilograms each, four boxes of
TNT, and 65 PETN detonators from nine suspected JI members in
Central Java and Jakarta. Most of these explosives, which in all
were four times as powerful as those used in the Bali bombings,
were active and ready to be detonated.

Police claimed that one of the suspects, who killed himself
during police questioning, had transported explosives to Jakarta
twice. However, the whereabouts of these remain unknown.

"There are other suspects who remain at large and they are so
militant that they are prepared to perpetrate suicide bombings,"
Da'i said after a Cabinet meeting led by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.

Following the Cabinet meeting, Megawati visited the scene and
the Jakarta Hospital, one of the hospitals treating those injured
in the blast.

Earlier in the day, Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas, House
Speaker Akbar Tandjung, a number of cabinet ministers and
Governor Sutiyoso also visited the blast scene.

The explosion caused major damage to the lobby of the
Marriott, the Sailendra Restaurant and the adjacent Plaza Mutiara
buildings.

The blast produced a crater of some two meters in diameter
that pierced through the floor of the American-owned luxury
hotel's lobby down to the parking lot in the basement.

Most of the fatalities died instantly at the scene, burnt
beyond recognition by the heat generated by the blast. Forensic
experts had difficulty in identify them. The heat also
incinerated 22 cars parked in the vicinity.

Body parts from the victims were found as far away as 100
meters from the blast site.

Eyewitness Bambang Trianto, a security guard who was standing
not far away from the Kijang van when it exploded, said he saw
the van being driven up to the lobby entrance. From his vantage
point on the righthand side of the lobby, he said he could see a
cardboard box inside the minivan even though the window's glass
was tinted.

Bambang, 33, saw the minivan stop and the driver get out. Just
as Bambang was turning away, the van erupted in a ball of flame.

Blown over by the force of the blast, the last thing he
remembered was the roof of the van flying toward him.

Bambang suffered burns to almost all of his body and was
rushed to the Jakarta Hospital before being transferred to the
Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Identified casualties

1. Slamet Heryanto - security officer
2. Harna - Silver Bird taxi driver
3. Syamsudin - JW Marriott employee
4. Hans Win Mollend - Dutch national
5. Yohannes Bolah - unknown
6. Iyoh Zakaria - Silver Bird taxi driver