DENPASAR, 13 October 2002 - A massive car-bomb explosion on the Indonesian resort island of Bali has killed at least 182 people and injured hundreds more. Many of the victims were tourists from Australia, Britain and other countries. Authorities are calling the blast in Bali a terrorist attack, the worst in Indonesia's history. One or more explosions destroyed a crowded nightclub in the town of Kuta and damaged hotels and other buildings hundreds of meters away.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri is preparing to travel from Jakarta to Bali with her armed forces chief and foreign minister. There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing, but police say they have leads and are searching for suspects. Reports from the scene tell of at least two blasts, including a bomb that exploded near the U.S. consular office on Bali. However, officials say the greatest damage was caused by a large car-bomb outside the Sari Club, which was crowded with tourists when it went off at about 11 PM Saturday.
Witnesses described scenes of horror immediately after the explosion. Bloodied survivors, some with limbs blown off, fled the nightclub to seek safety on a nearby beach. The Sari Club was a mass of smoldering ruins Sunday, as rescue workers pulled blackened bodies out of the wreckage. The death toll has been climbing steadily for hours, and officials say they expect it will continue to rise.
Indonesia's national police chief, General Dai Bachtiar, says the attack appears to be the worst act of terror in Indonesia's history. In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the explosions appear to have been a coordinated terrorist attack. At least seven members of a football (soccer) club from Perth, Australia, are among the missing. Australia's Qantas Airways is arranging special flights to ferry Australian tourists home.
The Indonesian military says it has put the Bali's airport and seaports under close surveillance. Police say an explosion near the U.S. consulate in Denpasar, the island's capital, did not cause any injuries at the facility. Minor damage was caused by another bomb that exploded earlier Saturday outside the Philippine consulate in Manado, on the northern tip of the (Indonesian) island of Sulawesi. Manado is near the southern Philippines, where rebels with the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group operate.
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