Jakarta, July 17: Jakarta police chief suspects bombers were guests at Marriott hotel, a report said on Friday.
The report came a few minutes after a senior Indonesian lawmaker said there are ‘indications’ suicide attackers carried out the twin bombings on hotels in downtown Jakarta that killed nine and wounded 50.
Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the parliamentary security commission, said “there are indications of suicide bombs” at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Friday morning. “That is being investigated.”
A presidential spokesman has told the local media that the attacks were “terrorist bombs”.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts as yet.
After visiting the scene, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned “the cruel and inhuman attack”. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemned the “barbaric” attacks and US Secretary of State called bombings were “senseless”.
Later, Indonesia’s President said authorities will arrest the terrorists responsible for twin attacks on luxury hotels.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, “This action was carried out by a terrorist group, though it is too early to say if it is the same network” responsible for a series of bombings in Indonesia in recent years, Jemaah Islamiyah.
“Those who carried out this attack and those who planned it will be arrested and tried according to the law,” he said in a televised address to the nation.
The Indonesian Security Minister and police have said a New Zealander was among those killed. New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key has also confirmed that a New Zealand national was among the dead.
Thirteen other foreigners were among the wounded, including nationals from the United States, Australia, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.
A car bomb also blew up along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said without giving further details. Indonesia’s Metro TV said two people had been killed. An unexploded bomb was also later found at the Marriott, police said.
Presidential adviser Djali Yusuf told a news agency that the unexploded bomb had been discovered in the “control centre” of the attacks – room 1808 in the Marriott – where other explosives materials were found.
The apparently coordinated bombings are the first in several years and follow a period in which the government had made progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups, bringing a sense of political stability to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Suspicion is likely to fall on remnants of the Jemaah Islamiah militant group, blamed for previous attacks including a car bombing outside the Marriott in 2003 as well as bombings on the island of Bali the previous year that killed 202 people.
–Agencies–