Deadly Explosions Hit Two Indonesian Hotels

Posted on Jul 16, 2009

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Two strikes: Jakarta’s Ritz-Carlton, pictured, was one of two luxury hotels bombed in Indonesia on Friday.

The Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta were the targets of two explosions on Friday in the first such attacks in four years. Nine people were killed and 50 injured in blasts that occurred within minutes of each other, according to the Associated Press. “There are indications of suicide bombs,” one official said.

AP via Google News:

The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in the capital, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. Facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal.

Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into the Marriott before emergency services arrived and “there were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach,” he said. “It was terrible.”

The Marriott, which was attacked in 2003 in a bombing blamed on Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, was hit first, followed by the blast at the Ritz two minutes later. The attacks came just two weeks after presidential vote expected to re-elect incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who has been credited with stabilizing a nation previously wracked by militancy.

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