An update on this story. The unexploded bomb was defused and could provide a wealth of evidence for investigators. “Hotel ‘terror’ blasts kill nine in Jakarta,” from CNN, July 17:
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Bomb blasts tore through two luxury hotels Friday morning in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing at least nine people in what the country’s president called a “terrorist” attack.
Officials said more than 50 people were injured in the explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, which punched out the windows of a usually crowded restaurant and sent plumes of smoke into the sky.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the bombings as the work of extremists.
“I condemn this terrorist attack,” Yudhoyono said. “I know they will never stop.”
One of the people killed was identified as Timothy David McKay, 60, a New Zealand national, according to state-run Antara News Agency. Authorities were working to identify the other victims, the agency reported.
One hospital reported that there were 16 foreigners wounded in the blast, Antara said. The victims were from the United States, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, India, Australia and Britain.
Indonesia has been hit by several deadly bomb attacks targeting foreigners in recent years. More than 200 people were killed on the resort island of Bali in 2002 while 12 people were killed in a blast at the same Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003.
Those attacks were blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, said to have links to Al-Qaeda.
CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said the latest blasts match the modus operandi of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said the attacks on the hotels, which stand 50 meters apart, were coordinated.
Forensics experts are collecting evidence at the “disturbing scene,” Djalal said. He said he had few details about the blasts, which occurred about 7:48 a.m. (8:48 p.m. Thursday ET) on Friday, Islam’s holy day.
Later Friday, police confirmed they had found an unexploded bomb in a room on the 18th floor of the Marriott Hotel.
“We had to defuse the bomb because it’s armed and ready to explode. The bomb is now secure,” a police spokesman said.
Djalal, who said the lobby of the Marriott bore the brunt of the explosions, vowed that those behind the attacks would be brought to justice.
“What I can say is one of the most damaged areas that we looked at, where the bodies were, was a lounge area in the Marriott near the lobby,” Djalal said. “That seems to be the epicenter of the bomb.”
“This is a blow to us, but I don’t have any doubts that we will be able to uncover and find out the perpetrators,” he said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Police said the bomb at the Marriott likely came from the basement beneath the coffee shop on the ground floor, which would have been busy at breakfast time.
At the Ritz, windows were blown out on the second floor, as though the blast occurred from inside a hotel restaurant that also would have been crowded with a breakfast crowd, said witness Greg Woolstencroft….