Blast outside Marriot hotel in Indonesia kills four, radio says

[Nambe]

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 4 ASSOCIATED PRESS

An explosion outside a Marriot Hotel in downtown Jakarta killed four people on Tuesday, radio reports said. ---

''I saw four badly burned bodies on the street,'' a reporter from Jakarta's El Shinta radio station said, adding that two cars nearby were on fire. --

Black smoke could be seen rising from the front of the hotel, located in a district where many foreign embassies are housed, an Associated Press reporter on the scene said.

The hotel's lobby plate glass windows were shattered, but it was not immediately clear how much damage had been caused to the structure.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. On CNN now

CNN International 2:30 am....damn, that building is fucked up! Possibly several killed they're saying, lots of fire & black smoke, people everywhere...big blast.

[bluestateguy]

2. Al Qaeda?

They are well entrenched in Indonesia.

[Maple]

3. Al Qaeda

is not behind every bombing on the planet.

People bomb for lots of reasons you know.

[sam sarrha]

19. this bombing was 4 days before the sentencing of the Bali bombers..

It looks pretty connected to me... :nuke: :spank:

[caribmon]

4. Osama?

They will pin in on him for sure. There is good evidence that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Bali as well. Here is one analysis.

al Qaeda Unlikely to be Behind Bali Bombing as Internal Politics the Culprit
by Eriko Uchida

28 December 2002

<SNIP>

The Americans and British should not use every act of violence as a pretext for furthering their geopoltical ends and labelling such acts as acts of terrorism perpetrated by the likes of al Qaeda. The acts of violence in Indonesia has nothing to do with the United States or its geopolitical agenda. Rather they are part of an on-going internal feudal conflict that predates the war on terrorism and even George W. Bush.

<SNIP>

<SNIP>
"Bali is of neither political nor economic importance. . . .and killing young Australians does not make sense from al Qaeda's point of view," said Anderson at a seminar hosted by the Five Area Studies Project at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. "In fact al Queda does not commit acts of violence simply for their sake. The targets are carefully chosen at perceived enemies, not random attacks in the middle of nowhere simply for the sake of killing people and causing devastation."

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the regional extremist Muslims group blamed for the Bali blasts, has deep roots in Indonesian history, he said. Some of its members originally fought against the Dutch colonialists in the 1940s. The Muslim cleric and presumed leader of JI, Abu Bakar Bashir, was under arrest--but in connection with previous bombings, and had not been directly linked to the Bali bombing, he said.

"The history of extremist Islamic Indonesians began long before Osama bin Laden was born," he said. "This mode of competing for lucrative regions has been normal practice in Indonesia since the 1940s and was used by former dictator Suharto and his military cronies."

The professor from Cornell University suggested that the Indonesian "state apparatus", notably the military, is involved in many acts of terrorism in the country. Deposed dictator Suharto founded the Komando Djihad in the 1970s as a "black operations" unit to fight people labelled communists who actually where his enemies and opposition to his power. This unit has been involved in many terrorism-style acts of violence in the country, he said. Some members of the unit were privatised in order to help create violence for the commercial or political gains of certain groups connected to the Suharto family and its cronies.
<SNIP>


http://www.geocities.com/aroki.geo/0301/INA-Balibomb-unlikelyculprit.html

[demnan]

6. Defending Al Qaeda?

"In fact al Queda does not commit acts of violence simply for their sake. The targets are carefully chosen at perceived enemies, not random attacks in the middle of nowhere simply for the sake of killing people and causing devastation."

Come on - that's exactly what they do! Poor ol' Al Qaeda being dissed again! <sarcasm off>

Besides the hotel is not in the middle of nowhere, it is in the middle of a sort of Embassy Row, lots of foreigners. Even if it isn't Al Qaeda, it doesn't matter because it truly could be inspired by them. I just hate to hear anybody defending Al Qaeda, I'm sorry.

[rooboy]

11. Yeah, let's blame Al Qaeda - to hell with the truth!!!!! n/t

[rooboy]

5. No they're not. n/t

[Pallas180]

7. Ahem-AlQueda connected group did BAli and suspected in Jakarta,

the Marriot Hotel in the middle of town is pretty well
blown up and on fire far up the floors.

[rooboy]

9. Al Qaeda is the politicians' first resort.

Every bloody terrorist event in the world is blamed on Al Qaeda. That's just hype.

Jemaah Islamiah have no proven relationship to Al Qaeda at all. The only "evidence" is statements from Australian, American and Indonesian government officials who wish it to be so, and the testimony of a suspect who the authorities won't allow to be cross-examined in person. To suggest that bin Laden would target a nightclub in Kuta is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Indonesian terrorists don't need Al Qaeda. Many of the "terrorist" acts in the country have been committed by Kopassus (Indonesian special forces). These sorts of incidents have been happening for decades.

It's funny how Laskar Jihad, a terrorist group with close ties to the Kopassus and boasting over 10,000 members, "voluntarily disbanded" within 2 weeks of the Bali bombing. Yet nobody in the western media even bothers to note the existence of this organization.

[Pert_UK]

8. My brother is in Indonesia at the moment..not sure where.......

F*cked up...

He flew into Jakarta, stayed a few days, then went to Bali. I think he's still there but am not sure.....I'm just really hoping he hadn't gone back to Jakarta yet.

I'm not happy at all......

P.

[demnan]

12. I hope your brother is ok.

sending good karma your way.

[Pert_UK]

14. Thanks - I'll let you know when I hear back from him...n/t

P.

[lebkuchen]

17. When is he due to fly back?

Jakarta is a mess under normal circumstances. It's very unlikely that he is spending much time there, although there are other nice areas of Java that he would like. If he went to Bali, he will stay there as long as possible or head to Lomboc.

Jakarta is full of traffic, noise and pollution. He won't linger there.

[Pert_UK]

22. I know....don't know when he was due back to Jakarta though.

I'm sure he's OK - there are no mentions of a UK citizen being hurt in it are there?

P.

[demnan]

10. Perhaps a related story?

General found guilty over E Timor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3124911.stm

[rooboy]

13. Whenever something bad happens in Indonesia...

the first place to look is the military. It's the way they've held power for years - create a problem and then present themselves as the solution.

[T_i_B]

15. BBC looks at likely suspects

Just in case you wanted to guess whodunnit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3125071.stm

[alaine]

16. Death toll now 13, 150 wounded

Pert please post to let us know your brother is okay.

[LuCifer]

18. Osama bin Forgotten, heeeeere boy, where aaaaaaare yoooooou????

*whistle noise* com'on boy, got a nice horny camel for you!

I swear to the gods, if I see any posts anywhere by stupid repukes blamming Clinton for this, I'm going to reach thru my computer and bitchslap them into next week.

PS Admins, feel free to nuke my thread that was posted like the same time as this one. Damnit, I knew if I posted about this, I'd do it too late! By like one minute...DOH!

[T_i_B]

20. Police knew that bombed Jakarta hotel was terror target

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=431020

Indonesian police seized documents last month showing terrorists were planning to target the area around Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, devastated yesterday by a powerful suicide car bomb that killed 15 people.

"There was a warning that there were some targets and we have been anticipating an attack," Jakarta police spokesman Prasetyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said today

He said the documents were seized in the central Java town of Semarang last month, when police arrested four alleged members of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which is linked to al-Qa'ida

"In the documents there were some strategic areas including the location of the Marriott," Prasetyo told The Associated Press.

[dArKeR]

21. Yes, again we weren't told. Bush/GOP incompetence! 9/11 the same.

What has Bush learned reading the children's books? Nothing. IMPEACH!

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030805.wjaka0805/BNStory/International/

"There was a warning that there were some targets and we have been anticipating an attack," said Jakarta police spokesman Prasetyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.