Saturday, October 01, 2005
BALI ATTACK LATEST
An Australian teenager is among some 32 confirmed dead. At least 17 other Australians are injured, two of them gravely:
The Indonesian government has asked Australian Federal Police to help in the investigation, as they did with the 2002 bombings.
[Australian foreign minister Alexander] Downer said seriously injured Indonesians may also be evacuated to Australia for further medical treatment.
“We’ve offered medical assistance to the Indonesians, even with a view to evacuating by aircraft some of the more seriously injured to Australia if that proves to be necessary, and to provide additional medical resources if they need those medical resources,” he said.
Downer says there may be up to 4000 Australians in Bali at present, many of them on school holidays. There are other fatalities not yet confirmed involving a group of friends from Newcastle, according to Dr Adam Frost, interviewed by the ABC:
“They’re all in various states of injuries. Some didn’t survive.
“I’m waiting to go to the morgue to identify them.”
Images from the attack here and here. Sydney radio reporter Justin Hale mentions an earlier bomb discovery:
Hale said local people were already concerned by the reported discovery in a hotel of a bomb - with a letter attached to it - two weeks ago.
“At first people thought it may have just been a hoax or possibly even an extortion attempt. But with the letter in Arabic, that put a different slant on it,” he said.
Great timing from former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, who said last week that JI was “effectively smashed” and “no longer constituted a serious threat.” Singapore-based Rohan Gunaratna wasn’t as glib: “I think that Australia and the Indonesian police have done a very good job in fighting JI, but still JI key operatives are free, and they are planning and preparing attacks. I believe that JI will mount an attack in the coming months.”