Suicide bombers kill at least 25 in blasts at Bali restaurants

BALI, Indonesia – Suicide bombers targeted the Indonesian resort of Bali with coordinated attacks that devastated three crowded restaurants, killing at least 25 people. Two men linked to even deadlier blasts at the same resort in 2002 were suspected of masterminding the strikes, a top anti-terrorism official said today.

Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai said the three attackers went into the packed restaurants on Saturday evening wearing explosive vests. The remains of their bodies were found at the scenes, he said.

“I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet,” he told The Associated Press. “By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists.”

Saturday’s near-simultaneous blasts at two seafood cafes on Jimbaran beach and a three-story noodle and steakhouse in downtown Kuta came a month after Indonesia’s president warned of possible terrorist attacks. Two Americans were among the 101 people wounded.

Mbai named two Malaysian fugitives — alleged to be key members of the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group and accused of orchestrating the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, most of them foreigners, and two others in the Indonesian capital in 2003 and 2004. The later attacks also involved suicide bombers.

“The modus operandi of Saturday’s attacks is the same as the earlier ones,” said Mbai, who identified the men as Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top.

He said the two were not believed to be among the three suicide attackers, although the suicide bombers have not yet been identified.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Saturday that terrorists were to blame and warned that more attacks were possible.

“We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” he said.

Western and Indonesian intelligence agencies have warned repeatedly that Jemaah Islamiyah was plotting more attacks. Last month, Yudhoyono said he was especially worried the extremist network was about to strike.

“I received information at the time that terrorists were planning an action in Jakarta and that explosives were ready,” he said Saturday.

Dozens of people, most of them Indonesian, waited in tears outside the morgue in Sanglah Hospital, near the island’s capital Denpasar, for news of friends and relatives missing since the attacks.

It was not clear if the three suicide bombers were included in the toll of 25.

The 101 wounded included 49 Indonesians, 17 Australians, six Koreans, four Japanese and two Americans, officials said.

Saturday’s bombs detonated at about 8 p.m. as thousands of diners flocked to restaurants on the bustling, mostly Hindu island, which is just starting to recover from the 2002 blasts.

Baradita Katoppo, an Indonesian tourist from Jakarta, said one of the bombs on Jimbaran beach went off in the Nyoman Cafe, where he was eating with friends. Five minutes later, another explosion rocked a neighboring restaurant filled with diners.

“There was blood on their faces and their bodies,” he said. “It was very chaotic and confusing. We didn’t know what to do.”

At almost the same time about 18 miles away in Kuta, a bomb exploded at the three-story Raja restaurant in a bustling outdoor shopping center. The area includes a KFC fast-food restaurant, clothing stores and a tourist information center.

Smoke poured from the badly damaged building.

Before the 2002 bombings, Bali enjoyed a reputation for peace and tranquility, an exception in a country wracked for years by ethnic and separatist violence. Those nightclub blasts killed people from 22 countries, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

Courts on Bali have convicted dozens of militants for the blasts, and three suspects were sentenced to death.

Since the 2002 attacks, Jemaah Islamiyah has been tied to at least two other bombings in Indonesia, both in Jakarta.