rocked the Indonesian resort island of Bali Saturday, October 1, amid fears among minority Christians and Westerners of increased Islamic violence.
Several foreigners were among the dead, including at least two Americans and one Australian, several news reports said. Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Austrialia’s ABC radio that one Australian was among those killed.
In published statements police confirmed three blasts at separate restaurants packed with evening diners, two at outdoor seafood eateries on Jimbaran Beach and one at a steak bar at Kuta Beach in an area surrounded by shops and jammed with pedestrians, including children.
Television footage in Kuta showed the glass windows of several upscale stores shattered, with glass littering the street, and the awning of Raja’s Bar and Restaurant blown askew.
"People were running for their lives. Foreign tourists were wounded. I am so scared,"
Yosi, 24, a shop owner in Kuta Beach told Reuters news agency.
"TERRORISTS" BLAMED
Nobody claimed responsibility yet, but Maj. Gen. Ansyadd Mbai, an Indonesian anti-terrorism official, told reporters the blasts were "clearly the work of terrorists." Almost three years ago, more than 200 people – mostly foreign tourists- were killed when bombs ripped through two nightclubs at Kuta beach.
The 2002 Bali attacks were claimed by the Islamic militant Jemaah Islamiyah group, which is believed to have close ties with the Al Qaeda network. Last month, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quoted as saying he was worried that the Jemaah Islamiyah group, "was on the brink of another blast."
Besides the previous Bali blasts, Jemaah Islamiyah has also been linked to two other bombings in Jakarta, one at the J.W. Marriott hotel in 2003 and the other outside the Australian Embassy in 2004, which both killed at least 23 people.
Christian human rights groups have expressed concern that churches will also be attacked by the group or other Islamic militants who see Indonesia’s Christians as supporting the US-led war on terrorism and Western religious values they despise.
ANTI CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE
In one of the most recent attacks against Christians, two bomb blasts killed about 27 people, including a pastor, in the mainly Christian town of Tentana on May 28. Those May blasts, about 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of the tense coastal town of Poso, were blamed on Muslim militants.
Since august Muslim extremists backed by local authorities also forced Christians to closed down dozens of churches in Indonesia’s troubled province of West Java where three Christian women were sentenced to three years in prison for inviting Muslim children to their church’s Sunday School, human rights investigators say.
In total about 200 churches are estimated to have been closed since 1996. Christian Freedom International, a US-based religious rights watchdog which also operates in Indonesia, has warned that Islamic attacks against Christians, undermine the image of Indonesia which as the world’s largest Muslim nation, "has long enjoyed a reputation for religious tolerance and freedom."
Indonesia’s president has reportedly called for increased security saying "September and October seem to be favored months for terrorist attacks," although he did not specify potential targets. (With BosNewsLife Chief International Correspondent Stefan J. Bos and reports from Indonesia and BosNewsLife Research).
