Web News

Analysis: who bombed Bali?

Adapted from the BBC by Frank Gardner

Date: Sunday, 13 October, 2002

approve	experts	culprits	responsible	shadowy	inevitably
bent on	strategic	haunt	campaigning	casualties	source

Enter your name:

Western intelligence are scrabbling to determine who was behind this weekend's explosions on the Indonesian island of Bali. Suspicions are focussing on extremist Islamic groups, notably Jemaah Islamiah which has been for a pan-Islamic state in the region.

A Bali nightclub is an unlikely target for al-Qaeda

When a massive bomb goes off in a country with several violent Islamic groups, initial suspicions fall on al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden's organisation has a known presence in Indonesia, and local militants are believed to have trained in Afghanistan.

The regional group, Jamiya Islamiya, has been for a pan-Islamic superstate, stretching right across South-east Asia, to the southern Philippines. That is a goal which al-Qaeda's leadership would definitely of.

East Timor revenge

But a Bali nightclub is an unlikely target for al-Qaeda. It has no value, it does not hurt a Western government, and it was not a favoured of al-Qaeda's preferred targets: Americans and Jews.

In an effort to find who is , Britain is dispatching its own counter-terrorism to Bali. The British Government says it is looking at every possibility but has yet to identify the .

But one possible explanation for the bombing comes from a Saudi who prefers not to be named. He told the BBC that many Indonesians blamed Australian troops for the loss of their former territory, East Timor. He said these were Indonesians nationalists revenge, and that the resort of Bali would be an obvious soft target, causing high amongst Australians.

Australians were part of the United Nations force in East Timor.

edict virtual language centre | News from the Web