JAKARTA HOTELS BLASTED BY 2 SUICIDE BOMBERS

Two suicide bombers were behind bomb attacks in Jakarta hotels on Friday morning, the national police chief told reporters.

1. Two bomb blasts, one at the JW Marriott, the other at the Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta's main business district killed 8 people and injured more than 60, including foreigners and Indonesians.
2. A car bomb had also exploded along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said. Indonesia’s Metro TV said two people had been killed. No further details on that blast were available.
3. Windows were shattered at both hotels, which are close to each other in the Kuningan business area which is popular with foreigners and Indonesians, with many bars, offices and embassies.
4. Hundreds of police, some soldiers and ambulances were at the scene of the hotel attacks. A Reuters witness said about 100 foreign and Indonesian hotel guests and office workers were gathered outside, some still wearing bathrobes.
5. The windows in the first floor of the Ritz-Carlton were blown out, indicating the blast may have been in the restaurant, which would have been busy at that time of the morning
6. The bomb attacks, the first in several years, could badly dent investor confidence in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The Indonesian government has made considerable progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups in recent years, bringing a sense of greater political stability to the country.

Source: The Malaysian Insider, The Star Online