'Western executives targeted' in Jakarta bombing

20 Jul 2009, 11:04 am   -   Source: AAP

There is evidence that Western executives attending a high-level business breakfast were deliberately targeted by the suicide bomber responsible for six of the nine deaths in Friday's twin attacks on Jakarta hotels.

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There is evidence that Western executives attending a high-level business breakfast were deliberately targeted by the suicide bomber responsible for six of the nine deaths in Friday's twin attacks on Jakarta hotels.

The attacks also reveal an unexpected level of capability and sophistication by a Jemaah Islamiah splinter group, led by Malaysian-born extremist Noordin Mohammed Top, which is believed to be behind the attacks.

Witnesses and staff from within the JW Marriott hotel, which was targeted first, have revealed that the cap-wearing man caught by CCTV cameras wheeling a large suitcase into an eating area was trying to get as close as possible to a regular breakfast meeting of 19 mostly-Western business executives, the ABC reports.

Questioned by security staff, the bomber said he had to bring a laptop to a business colleague inside, before detonating his device right next to the businessmen.

The Australian newspaper says the Marriott hotel bomber, who is believed to be the classmate of a terrorist responsible for the fatal attack on the same building six years ago, walked into a lounge where 19 businessmen were meeting and detonated two bombs, one in a backpack and another in a suitcase on wheels.

Three Australians and one other Westerner were killed by the blasts, along with an Indonesian hotel employee.

Three more people died in an explosion at the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel minutes later. Brisbane businessman Garth McEvoy, 54, is confirmed dead.

Officially, Perth businessman Nathan Verity, 38, and Austrade official Craig Senger, 36, remain "presumed dead".

The clinical execution of the attacks, penetrating the hotels' security and targeting a specific meeting, contrasted with previous attacks in which larger numbers of Indonesians had been killed.

"The fact is that a distinguished group of executives were in the room that was most affected," a US embassy source told the newspaper.

"It is adjacent to the bigger coffee shop. I would think that someone had enough information to go down there and walk the halls."

'Risk of further attacks'

Meanwhile, Canberra is warning there is a risk of further terrorist attacks in Indonesia, admitting there are lessons to be learned from the latest bombings that claimed the lives of at least eight people.

On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd telephoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to pass on his condolences and to offer Indonesia further assistance to apprehend those responsible for the attacks.

Earlier on Sunday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade updated its travel advice for Indonesia, warning of a "very high" threat of further attacks and urging people to "reconsider their need to travel".

"There is a possibility of further terrorist attacks in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia, including Bali," DFAT says on its Smartraveller website.

The advice was updated following a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet on Sunday, the fourth convened by Mr Rudd since the attacks.

DFAT has updated the travel alert a number of times since the hotels were targeted in coordinated suicide bombings. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who is on his way back to Australia from Indonesia, said the latest advisory had been reviewed on the basis of updated information and advice.

"This update ... draws attention to a possibility of further terrorist attacks in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia, including Bali," he said in a statement.

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