Luxury Hotel Bombs Kill 9 in Jakarta

Powerful Blast Crumbles Front of Ritz-Carlton; Another Explosion Inside Neighboring Marriott, at Least 50 Injured


Last Updated at 12:41 a.m. EDT


A pair of powerful explosions at two luxury hotels killed nine and wounded at least 50 people in an upscale Jakarta neighborhood Friday morning, sending debris and glass flying onto the streets.


Anti-terror forces were at the scenes of both blasts, but did not yet want to speculate about the possibility of an attack by militants.





"There were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," said a man who lives near the hotels and who arrived at the Marriott before emergency services. "It was terrible."





Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging by the hotels, said he first heard a loud explosion at the Marriott. Five minutes later, a bomb followed at the Ritz.





The blasts were caused by "high explosives," Security Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene, without elaborating.





He said they exploded two minutes apart. He said a New Zealander was among those killed, and that thirteen other foreigners were among the injured.





Two U.S. officials said one American is believed to have been injured but that has not yet been confirmed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.





The police operational chief Arief Wahyunadi said the bombs were planted in the Ritz-Carlton's Air Langga restaurant and the basement of the Marriott, which was attacked in 2003. Twelve people died in that assault, which was blamed on Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.





There has been a massive crackdown by anti-terror officials since then, and it has been more than three years since a major terrorist attack in Indonesia.





The Manchester United football team was scheduled to stay at the Ritz on Saturday and Sunday nights for a friendly match against the Indonesian All Stars, the Indonesian Football association said.





Because of past attacks, most major hotels in Jakarta take security precautions, such as checking incoming vehicles and requiring visitors to pass through metal detectors. Still, international hotels make attractive targets, since the nature of their business requires them to be relatively open and accessible.

雅加達麗池和萬豪酒店爆炸 至少9死

印尼首都雅加達市中心的兩家五星級飯店萬豪酒店和麗池飯店，當地時間早上七點多，也就是台北時間八點多，先後發生爆炸，目前已知有9個人死亡，不過警方證實的死亡人數是六人，其中包括至少四名外國觀光客，另外有50人受傷。

雅加達警方沒有證實爆炸是否是炸彈所引發，印尼已經有好幾年不曾發生重大的炸彈攻擊，前一陣子的總統大選，過程也相當平和。

今天早上萬豪酒店和麗池飯店，在相隔不到五分鐘內先後爆炸，麗池飯店低樓層玻璃碎了一地，萬豪酒店內傳出濃煙，一名目擊者看到裡面，至少躺了四個人，其中一人腹部被炸開，肚破腸流，美聯社記者看到好幾名傷者被抬上救護車，其中有外籍旅客，也有印尼人。麗池飯店工作人員透露，下禮拜要到印尼參加表演賽的英國職業球團曼聯，原本要入住麗池。

爆炸案發生的時候，印尼股市還沒有開市，匯市已經開始交易，爆炸案傳到金融市場，印尼盾應聲下挫，印尼央行出手，賣美元，拉抬印尼盾，稍後股市以下跌超過百分之二的幅度開出。
萬豪酒店在6年前也發生過恐怖攻擊，一枚汽車炸彈炸死了12個人，爆炸案發生的前一年，峇里島也遭到恐怖攻擊，奪走202條人命，這兩起攻擊都被認為是回教祈禱團所為。