Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels (Military Nuts)

QUOTE

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels

At least six people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.

The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel.

Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight.

South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said four people who died were foreigners, reported AP.

"There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other in the Ritz Carlton," he said.

"We are still trying to check because right now we are still helping the victims," he said.

Myra Junor, who witnessed the blasts from a nearby building, told Reuters windows on the lower floors of the Ritz-Carlton had shattered.

Ambulances are continuing to arrive on the scene and there is a heavy police presence, says our correspondent.

The two hotels are in Jakarta's central business district.

The explosions come two weeks after presidential elections in Indonesia.

Another terrorist strike? :unsure:

QUOTE (diCam @ Jul 17 2009, 11:16 AM)

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels

QUOTE

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels

At least six people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.

The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel.

Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight.

South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said four people who died were foreigners, reported AP.

"There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other in the Ritz Carlton," he said.

"We are still trying to check because right now we are still helping the victims," he said.

Myra Junor, who witnessed the blasts from a nearby building, told Reuters windows on the lower floors of the Ritz-Carlton had shattered.

Ambulances are continuing to arrive on the scene and there is a heavy police presence, says our correspondent.

The two hotels are in Jakarta's central business district.

The explosions come two weeks after presidential elections in Indonesia.

Another terrorist strike? :unsure:

Maybe detered by our own Northstar so they decide to try the Indonesian instead?? :lol:

Suddenly Northstar seems all so timely..

QUOTE (blowpipe @ Jul 17 2009, 11:46 AM)

Maybe detered by our own Northstar so they decide to try the Indonesian instead?? :lol:

Are you saying our SOFT is so garang that they were frightened away? :lol:

On a serious note, the strikes can be politically motivated to destabilised SBY Administration. After all, he was re-elected as President 2 weeks ago. Or the terrorist maybe targeting at foreign interest. IIRC, this is the second time that JW Marriott was hit.

Bombs kill nine in Indonesian hotels

QUOTE

Title : Bombs kill nine in Indonesian hotels
By :
Date : 17 July 2009 1238 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp.../442984/1/.html

JAKARTA: Bombs tore through two luxury hotels in Jakarta on Friday killing at least nine people including foreigners and leaving over 40 others injured, officials said.

Two blasts shook the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the nearby JW Marriott in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in the centre of the city around 8:00am (0100 GMT), sending a huge plume of smoke into the sky.

A third explosion was reported near a shopping complex in the north of the Indonesian capital several hours later, but police later denied initial reports that it was also caused by a bomb.

"I heard two sounds like 'boom, boom' coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out," security guard Eko Susanto told AFP.

Blood was spattered on the street outside the Marriott and hundreds of police sealed off the area, an AFP correspondent said.

The bombings were the first major attack in Indonesia since a series of suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2005 which were blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah Islamic militant group.

"These were high explosive bombs," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene.

Windows were blown out of a second-storey restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, but there was little damage to the Marriott that was visible from outside.

Police said one blast hit the basement of the Marriott and a second struck the restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton at the peak breakfast hour.

Another witness told AFP he saw several foreigners covered in blood in the immediate aftermath of the explosion at the Marriott.

National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna confirmed at least nine people were killed and 41 were injured in the hotel blasts, including 14 foreigners.

"I don't remember exactly but suddenly the ceiling is falling down and the sound was big," Cho In Sang, 50-year-old South Korean who was staying at the Ritz-Carlton, told AFP at the Metropolitan Medical Centre (MMC) hospital.

Cho, who was lying on a hospital bed with cuts and scratches on his arms and legs, said hotel staff had put him in a car and driven him to hospital.

Police said it was too early to say whether the bombs were planted by Islamic militants as in the attacks that killed 12 people at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003 and more than 200 in Bali in 2002.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected to a second term in the mainly Muslim country last week, was "deeply concerned over this incident," a spokesman for his office said.

The Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been blamed for a string of bombings on local and Western targets in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia in recent years.

As well as the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Marriott attack, JI was also blamed for a suicide attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004 which left 10 dead and a second attack in Bali in 2005 which killed 20.

JI has been linked by Western governments to the Al-Qaeda network and key JI leader Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand in 2003, was handed over to US custody and is being detained at US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The Indonesian authorities arrested many of the top leadership of JI in the aftermath of the Bali bombings and analysts believed the organisation had been severely weakened.

However several key members remained at large including top bombmaker Noordin Mohammed Top, a Malaysian.

Three members of JI were executed in November last year for their role in the 2002 bombings in Bali, and analysts warned at the time there could be reprisal attacks.

- AFP/yt

QUOTE (LazerLordz @ Jul 17 2009, 12:20 PM)

Suddenly Northstar seems all so timely..

Just some wry thoughts... maybe our intel guys received information..? :rolleyes:

QUOTE (diCam @ Jul 17 2009, 01:19 PM)

QUOTE (blowpipe @ Jul 17 2009, 11:46 AM)

Maybe detered by our own Northstar so they decide to try the Indonesian instead?? :lol:

Are you saying our SOFT is so garang that they were frightened away? :lol:

On a serious note, the strikes can be politically motivated to destabilised SBY Administration. After all, he was re-elected as President 2 weeks ago. Or the terrorist maybe targeting at foreign interest. IIRC, this is the second time that JW Marriott was hit.

Bombs kill nine in Indonesian hotels

QUOTE

Title : Bombs kill nine in Indonesian hotels
By :
Date : 17 July 2009 1238 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp.../442984/1/.html

JAKARTA: Bombs tore through two luxury hotels in Jakarta on Friday killing at least nine people including foreigners and leaving over 40 others injured, officials said.

Two blasts shook the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the nearby JW Marriott in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in the centre of the city around 8:00am (0100 GMT), sending a huge plume of smoke into the sky.

A third explosion was reported near a shopping complex in the north of the Indonesian capital several hours later, but police later denied initial reports that it was also caused by a bomb.

"I heard two sounds like 'boom, boom' coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out," security guard Eko Susanto told AFP.

Blood was spattered on the street outside the Marriott and hundreds of police sealed off the area, an AFP correspondent said.

The bombings were the first major attack in Indonesia since a series of suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2005 which were blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah Islamic militant group.

"These were high explosive bombs," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene.

Windows were blown out of a second-storey restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, but there was little damage to the Marriott that was visible from outside.

Police said one blast hit the basement of the Marriott and a second struck the restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton at the peak breakfast hour.

Another witness told AFP he saw several foreigners covered in blood in the immediate aftermath of the explosion at the Marriott.

National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna confirmed at least nine people were killed and 41 were injured in the hotel blasts, including 14 foreigners.

"I don't remember exactly but suddenly the ceiling is falling down and the sound was big," Cho In Sang, 50-year-old South Korean who was staying at the Ritz-Carlton, told AFP at the Metropolitan Medical Centre (MMC) hospital.

Cho, who was lying on a hospital bed with cuts and scratches on his arms and legs, said hotel staff had put him in a car and driven him to hospital.

Police said it was too early to say whether the bombs were planted by Islamic militants as in the attacks that killed 12 people at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003 and more than 200 in Bali in 2002.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected to a second term in the mainly Muslim country last week, was "deeply concerned over this incident," a spokesman for his office said.

The Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been blamed for a string of bombings on local and Western targets in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia in recent years.

As well as the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Marriott attack, JI was also blamed for a suicide attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004 which left 10 dead and a second attack in Bali in 2005 which killed 20.

JI has been linked by Western governments to the Al-Qaeda network and key JI leader Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand in 2003, was handed over to US custody and is being detained at US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The Indonesian authorities arrested many of the top leadership of JI in the aftermath of the Bali bombings and analysts believed the organisation had been severely weakened.

However several key members remained at large including top bombmaker Noordin Mohammed Top, a Malaysian.

Three members of JI were executed in November last year for their role in the 2002 bombings in Bali, and analysts warned at the time there could be reprisal attacks.

- AFP/yt

Anyway it is a joke that I mentioned the terrorist are detered by our Northstar. We all know that the bombing would have taken ages to plan, prepare & execute.

Over lunch with my collegues earlier, we speculate that it may be due to the re-election of SBY. But I think the usual point is that the terrorist may be targeting western interest.

Maybe we should watch if anyone claims responsiblity & how the investigation unfolds. :ph43r:

Yeah, bombings are definitely terrorism regardless of the motivation. I think its not much of a surprise that a Western Hotel corporation was targeted.

So far no one claimed credit right?

We will never know if the Northstar exercise is timely or had been motivated by early intel....if its the latter its strange that the Indons didnt manage to prevent it....

In any case I believe its the second time that the MArriot Hotel there is attacked....(I could be wrong).

Man U was supposed to stay at the Ritz for a game with ID's team. I think the game's been cancelled.

QUOTE (weasel1962 @ Jul 17 2009, 03:57 PM)

Man U was supposed to stay at the Ritz for a game with ID's team. I think the game's been cancelled.

Stay tune for latest updates thru the below links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jakarta_bombings

QUOTE (Sayaret @ Jul 17 2009, 03:54 PM)

In any case I believe its the second time that the MArriot Hotel there is attacked....(I could be wrong).

You would be correct, there was a bombing there in 2003 as well

I think the timing for this was simply coincidental, but it definitely highlights the need for vigilance in a manner few other incidents could have.

looks like there were some major security failures, since it seems that the bombs were smuggled into the hotels (or at least their parts were, for subsequent assembly) and judging by the scale of the blasts and damage, these were no small devices.

security was much tightened after the 2003 blasts, especially external measures like concrete barriers (not sure if they're still there.) but then, those attacks are by now a fading memory and the precautions likely relaxed. could also have involved insiders among the hotel staff who allowed the bombs in.

definitely a wakeup call to us that terrorist elements, especially JI, are by no means dead despite their previous silence.

I guess it will take a couple of days at least for the whole drama to unfold....Right now, people are still excited. <_<

I wonder what coffee mas selamat is drinking now.

QUOTE (Iowa_BB61 @ Jul 18 2009, 12:05 AM)

I wonder what coffee mas selamat is drinking now.

teh tarik tongkat ali?

its a real pity...yes I really suspect SBY's reelection might have been a motivating factor...worth noting that the party run by the former VP (backed by large number of Muslim groups) lost pretty badly...could this be a form of getting back?

funny, normally if we suspected smth was up we would have shared with the intel community in the region already right? have we gotten slack? :blink:

It might be hard to gather intel on random cells or self-radicalised individuals with little or no links to existing groups.

It's a large country, and chatter can melt into the background I guess.

Australian intelligence had a small hint of a potential attack.

QUOTE

Local defence and strategic policy think-tank ASPI warned less than 24 hours before Friday's twin bomb blasts that radical elements of the group Jemaah Islamiyah, behind the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, were set to strike again.

"The hardline group is fully supported by a group of young, dedicated individuals who share a deep commitment to the cause, advocating al-Qaeda-style attacks that directly target Westerners," ASPI warned in a briefing Thursday.

Link

And Dr Carl Ungerer said

QUOTE

"We don't know. What it does suggest is that the hardline splinter groups within JI retain this capability; they still have the equipment and materials to make these sorts of bombs and they are bent on using them."
Associate Professor Damien Kingsbury of Deakin University said that "unless there is some very significant police activity in the next short period, as in a number of arrests, I would think there is likely to be further attacks, probably not immediately, but it's likely there will be further attacks in the months ahead.

"It may not be Jakarta, it could be Bali, Singapore, possibly Malaysia, maybe Thailand, perhaps even Bangkok or one of the tourist resorts," he said.
"

SMH

I believe that the intelligence agencies receives many intel about potential attack everyday.

QUOTE (xtemujin @ Jul 18 2009, 09:43 PM)

I believe that the intelligence agencies receives many intel about potential attack everyday.

I heard that intel agencies received so much intelligence daily until they cannot differentiate which is real or fake.

Anyway, I believed the intel chief will have to answer this.

A new way to spread fear from the terrorist perspective?

QUOTE

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25807142-421,00.html
Images of the body parts of Jakarta bombing victim Nathan Verity circulate on mobile phones

By Lisa Davies
The Daily Telegraph
July 20, 2009 12:01am

IMAGES of the body parts of Jakarta bombing victim Nathan Verity have been circulated on mobile phones, to the great distress of his family.
Mr Verity's former boss Jim Truscott, a former SAS trooper, told The Daily Telegraph yesterday those responsible should be prosecuted.

"This is criminal," said Mr Truscott, who owns a crisis management firm.

Mr Truscott said a work colleague in Jakarta informed him on Saturday that the photos of the 38-year-old's body parts were being circulated.

"My colleague did not receive them but he saw them on another phone," Mr Truscott said.

"They are clearly official photographs ... there are latex gloves in the shots and they're taken in some kind of medical situation.

"Whoever's doing it needs to stop. They are promoting terrorism."

A distraught Vanessa Verity was last night comforted by father-in-law Peter after identifying her husband's body at the Jakarta Police Hospital.

Nathan and Vanessa Verity's five-year-old son Chris was being cared for by his grandparents at the weekend.

There were more heartbreaking scenes for grieving Australian relatives as the body of Brisbane victim, Garth McEvoy, 54, was moved from the Jakarta morgue to a funeral parlour.

Not sure if that's the case, could be more the usual people instinct to want photos of such events, photos of David Carradine's body were circulated recently so I think it's less of promoting terrorism but instead the usual public demand for tasteless photos.

The attacks may or may not be linked to the re-election of SBY....it could be simply becos' the Indons were slacking in their pursuit of the ringleader and also in their checks.....the elections could have diverted attention away from the hunt and presented an excellent opportunity to strike again to show the Indons and world that he is still around and capable of striking as and when he wants to..... SBY merely took the opportunity to make himself look like a likely target or cause.....for political reasons.

The Indons have only themselves to blame for these attacks occuring in their capital city itself.....they have not shown the resolve to shut down on Muslim radicals - simply becos of their numbers.....which have many forms of mitgants, but they chose the easy way out - solely - pacification; turning a blind eye.....These chaps aren't serious about hitting the terrorists where it hurts, they merely do a show for the international community and life goes on.....

Singapore's relevant authorities hopefully had a wake up call in case they became sleepy and complacent ......

what I don't understand is, if they managed to get it into the hotel without being noticed, then why the need for a suicide bomber when it can easily be timer or cellular triggered?

Suicide bomber cheaper and more Islamic / jihad than using electronic means to detonate the bombs.....

QUOTE (Sayaret @ Jul 21 2009, 02:01 PM)

Suicide bomber cheaper and more Islamic / jihad than using electronic means to detonate the bombs.....

X2. Cheaper and more accurate to find someone who is willing to die, to walk to the exact place and blow it up, I guess.

QUOTE (FIVE-TWO @ Jul 21 2009, 01:50 PM)

what I don't understand is, if they managed to get it into the hotel without being noticed, then why the need for a suicide bomber when it can easily be timer or cellular triggered?

I'm inclined to think that it's also about making a statement.

but suicide bomber may chicken out at the last minute?

QUOTE (FIVE-TWO @ Jul 21 2009, 09:10 PM)

but suicide bomber may chicken out at the last minute?

Let's just say that there are "fail-safe" measures in place.

QUOTE (Iowa_BB61 @ Jul 21 2009, 09:15 PM)

QUOTE (FIVE-TWO @ Jul 21 2009, 09:10 PM)

but suicide bomber may chicken out at the last minute?

Let's just say that there are "fail-safe" measures in place.

remote lor. :lol:

QUOTE (LazerLordz @ Jul 21 2009, 09:32 PM)

QUOTE (Iowa_BB61 @ Jul 21 2009, 09:15 PM)

QUOTE (FIVE-TWO @ Jul 21 2009, 09:10 PM)

but suicide bomber may chicken out at the last minute?

Let's just say that there are "fail-safe" measures in place.

remote lor. :lol:

in the end still boils down to using expensive wireless tech mah :P

See the 24 July 2009 report (8 pages) by International Crisis Group on the 17 July 2009 hotel bombings. It has even more details than what was published in the Straits Times today.

According to the Jakarta Globe and the Associated Press, Police hunting for terror suspect Noordin Mohammad Top surrounded a house in central Indonesia and were exchanging gunfire with suspected militants holed up inside it. The owner of the house, Mohdari, was the first to be arrested, just after Friday prayers. "At around 3 p.m. we arrested two other suspects, Indra and Aris, who also lived at the house," the source for the Jakarta Globe said. Shots rang out when police began to move on the house near rice fields in Beji hamlet in the Kedu sub-district of Temanggung, Central Java just after 4 p.m. In a further development, The Straits Times reports that Noordin Top, the mastermind of last month's Jakarta hotel bombings, is believed to have been killed by police in a shootout, according to a local media report last night.

QUOTE (Grunt @ Aug 8 2009, 07:18 AM)

According to the Jakarta Globe and the Associated Press, Police hunting for terror suspect Noordin Mohammad Top surrounded a house in central Indonesia and were exchanging gunfire with suspected militants holed up inside it. The owner of the house, Mohdari, was the first to be arrested, just after Friday prayers. "At around 3 p.m. we arrested two other suspects, Indra and Aris, who also lived at the house," the source for the Jakarta Globe said. Shots rang out when police began to move on the house near rice fields in Beji hamlet in the Kedu sub-district of Temanggung, Central Java just after 4 p.m. In a further development, The Straits Times reports that Noordin Top, the mastermind of last month's Jakarta hotel bombings, is believed to have been killed by police in a shootout, according to a local media report last night.

unfortunately, Noordin Top wasn't killed (that was over-eager press reporting there)...

but he finally is~!
from
Terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top dead, say Indonesian police
Posted: 17 September 2009 1653 hrs

KEPUH SARI, Indonesia : Armed Indonesian police stormed an Islamic militant hideout early Thursday in a raid that killed wanted terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top and three other militants, police said.

Noordin's body was among four recovered after the early morning raid on a village house in Central Java, national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters, bringing to an end an exhaustive six-year manhunt.

"From national police doctors' examinations... and finger prints sent by Malaysian police, thank God on this holy month of Ramadan -- it's Noordin M Top," Danuri said to applause.

Loud explosions and gunfire were heard as police raided the rented house at around sunrise after a nine-hour siege on the outskirts of Solo city, a stronghold of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) radical network.

The raid left the simple house in the lush, densely populated region a burnt-out shell.

Danuri said police from Special Detachment 88 launched the raid after interrogating two Noordin acolytes arrested nearby on Wednesday afternoon.

"Despite repeated warnings to surrender there was a firefight. A motorcycle was hit, caught fire and they took refuge by huddling in the bathroom," Danuri said.

"But our men breached the wall as morning prayers came, at around 5:00 or 6:00 am we carried out a quick operation in three hours and we managed to disable them."

Danuri said those killed along with Noordin were "expert bomb-maker" Bagus Budi Pranoto, alias Urwah, close Noordin associate Ario Sudarso, alias Aji, and the renter of the house, Susilo.

He said two men were also arrested and Susilo's wife, who was wounded in the raid, was also in custody.

Police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said: "(At the house) we found weapons, grenades and eight sacks of explosive material."

Lawmaker Sidarto, a member of the national parliament's security committee, said he and other lawmakers had been allowed to see the bodies of the four slain militants.

"Today, God willing, the radical movement has been disabled. One of the biggest terrorist masterminds, Noordin M Top has been shot," Sidarto said.

"There were signs that pointed to it being Noordin M Top, such as a big mole on the left side of his nose," he said.

Noordin, a 41-year-old Malaysian who is Southeast Asia's most-wanted man, led a radical splinter faction of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network blamed for a string of deadly attacks.

The offshoot, labelled Al-Qaeda in the Malay Archipelago, is suspected of being behind the July 17 suicide attacks on Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

The bombings, which killed seven people including six foreigners, were the first major attacks in Indonesia in nearly four years.

Police believe they narrowly missed Noordin in a dramatic televised raid in August on a safe house in Temanggung, also Central Java.

Noordin was initially reported dead at the end of the 17-hour siege but the body later turned out to be that of a florist working in the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel complex who helped plot the attacks from the inside.

Noordin allegedly also masterminded a 2003 attack on the Marriott that killed 12 people, as well as the Australian embassy bombing and 2005 attacks on tourist restaurants on the holiday island of Bali.

Jemaah Islamiyah's ultimate goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines into a fundamentalist Islamic state.

Noordin's faction is estranged from JI's mainstream, which has rejected spectacular attacks. But analysts say he was able to fall back on a network of sympathetic schools and families while continuing to recruit.

- AFP /ls CNA

Following from the 17 September 2009 raid, Noordin Top's laptop revealed that the group had planned a 9-11 aviation attack which included the recruitment of a former Garuda staff, Mohamad Syahrir, into Noordin Top's organisation (click here for more details provided by RSIS). It is little wonder that for the duration of the APEC summit in Singapore, there was always a pair of fighters in the air. This latest development would have important security implications for regional civil aviation.

View Full Version: Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels