Revealed: British link to Bali bombs

The Times
Oct. 02, 2005

The bombs were supposedly detonated by suicide bombers and yet three unexploded bombs were found after the mobile phone networks were shut down, suggesting that all the bombs were designed to be remotely detonated. Detonation by remote mobile phones is a classic Mossad modus operandi. - PrisonPlanetTERRORISTS struck again on the island of Bali yesterday, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 100 in co-ordinated attacks on Saturday night diners at holiday resorts.

At least three bombs went off within minutes of each other at popular restaurants eight miles apart, all packed with tourists. Some victims were found decapitated amid the carnage.

Security officials blamed Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate, Jemaah Islamiya (JI), which carried out the Bali bombings of three years ago in which 202 people died, including 28 Britons.

Its top bombmaker, Azahari bin Husin, who completed a doctorate at Reading University in the 1990s and is known in his native Malaysia as “Demolition Man”, is suspected of involvement in the latest bombings.

Indonesia’s president had warned that another attack might be imminent and a senior Indonesian counter-terrorism official had said only five days ago that the authorities were urgently seeking two of JI’s terrorist masterminds, including Azahari.

The first of last night’s explosions tore through the threestorey Raja’s restaurant at Kuta Square in the heart of Bali’s tourist area at about 7pm.

Daniel Martin, a British tourist who was in a shop next door, said he heard a “thunderous boom” and all the windows blew out.

He rushed outside to find people lying in the street with serious injuries. “There was thick smoke for a few minutes afterwards but there didn’t seem to be any fire,” he said.

“People were clambering onto the roof of the restaurant — they were climbing out and screaming and jumping down to the street . . . It was just chaos.”

Shortly afterwards two bombs went off in open-air seafood restaurants on Jimbaran beach, where holidaymakers were sitting with their feet in the sand at informal tables set up by young cooks who were serving cheap fresh fish and cold beer.

“I helped lift up the bodies,” said Wayan Kresna, an Indonesian witness. “There was blood everywhere.”

Dan Delhomme, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said he had been less than 50 yards from one of the bombs and had heard both blasts, one 25 seconds after the other. “We were the first out of there but we saw two wounded by the roadside,” he said.

Police later said they had found three unexploded bombs in Jimbaran. They had apparently failed to go off after the security forces hastily shut down the island’s mobile telephone network following the first blasts.

Twelve Indonesians, two Americans, a 16-year-old Australian boy and one Japanese were reported to have been killed. One woman with dual British and Australian nationality was seriously injured and another Briton slightly hurt.

Bali was only just recovering from the 2002 bombings. After the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day last year, many tour operators switched their packages to Bali to cater for holidaymakers who wanted to avoid Thailand and Sri Lanka.

But early today Indonesian television showed rescue workers weeping and local inhabitants banging their heads against walls as they realised that their once tranquil island had been targeted for a second time.

The terrorists returned at the busiest time of the week as customers were gathering for drinks and dinner at sunset. The explosion in Kuta demolished the top floor of Raja’s, a German-owned noodle and steak house. “Fortunately the upper floor wasn’t too full,” said Wayan Firta, a security guard who was on the evening shift at Raja’s.

“As I was going inside the restaurant, suddenly there was an explosion and I was thrown some metres away from the building. I rushed inside and immediately saw a Japanese customer dead with his head severed from his body.”

Some witnesses in Jimbaran claimed one bomb had been buried in the sand. The worst-hit restaurant on Jimbaran beach was the Bandiga, which is close to some of the area’s most luxurious hotels, including the Four Seasons.

Mar Tika, a receptionist at the Four Seasons, said it was being reported that up to 12 people had died on the beach. The bomb had exploded among tables and chairs outside the restaurant.

“The Bandiga is popular with British tourists, as several five-star hotels are nearby,” he said.

Tony Blair condemned the “appalling attacks”. Lord Triesman, the Foreign Office minister, said Britons should think “very, very carefully” about travelling to Bali.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, who said last month that he feared Jemaah Islamiya was on the brink of another attack, headed straight to the island. “We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” he vowed.

Since the 2002 Bali blasts, the group has been blamed for at least two other bombings in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, which killed at least 23 people.

Additional reporting: Dewi Loveard, Jakarta, Matthew Campbell, Robert Winnett, Will Iredale, Abul Taher and Flora Bagenal