2004 Jakarta embassy bombing
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The bomb left a crater in the road three metres deep |
The
Jakarta embassy bombing took place on
September 9,
2004 in
Jakarta,
Indonesia.
A
car bomb exploded outside the
Australian
embassy at Kuningan District,
South Jakarta, at about 10:30 local time (03:30
UTC), killing several people including the suicide bomber, and wounding over 140 others. Damage to the nearby
Chinese embassy was also reported. Numerous office buildings surrounding the embassy were also damaged by the blast, injuring many workers inside, mostly by broken glass.
A dispute ensued as to how many civilians lost their lives after the explosion: local health authorities in Jakarta reported 9 deaths, compared to 11 deaths reported by Australian officials. Nonetheless, all Australians working at the embassy were reported alive. Among the victims killed were embassy security guard Anton Sujarwo, 23, and four Indonesian policemen on duty at the embassy. The rest are civilians, including the embassy gardener, Suryadi, 34, two embassy workers, a visa applicant, and a pedestrian.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed his "utter dismay at this event" and Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer said, "this was aimed at the Australian Embassy, there's no question of that" and that the investigators' "suspicions turn to
Jemaah Islamiah".It is unclear whether the incident was intended to influence either of the two upcoming regional elections: the final stage of the
Indonesian presidential elections scheduled for
20 September, or the
Australian elections scheduled for
9 October.
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The Australian flag continues to fly in front of a neighbouring building devastated by the bomb |
Australian Opposition Leader
Mark Latham said "The
terrorists responsible for this attack are evil and barbaric and must be dealt with as harshly as possible and as quickly as possible" and committed the
Labor Party's "full support to all efforts by the Australian and Indonesian governments to ensure that happens".
A grainy photograph of a white delivery van suspected of carrying the bomb and the attackers was released by Indonesian police. Minister Downer claimed that a mobile phone
text message was sent to Indonesian authorities about 45 minutes before the bomb detonated, warning of attacks unless the leader of Jemaah Islamiah
Abu Bakar Bashir was released, and said that the warning was not delivered to the
Australian Federal Police until several hours after the bombing. Indonesian police denied receiving such a message.
(Newsday)This was the third recent major attack involving Australians or Australian targets in Indonesia, after the
2002 Bali terrorist bombing, and the 2003 J.W. Marriott Hotel bombing. The executors of that attack,
Jemaah Islamiyah, were also head suspects for this bombing.
The attack has been blamed on
Jemaah Islamiah, a group alleged to have links to
Al-Qaeda, which has also been connected to the
2002 Bali bombing.
On
November 5, four men were arrested in
Bogor,
West Java: Sogir, Iwan Darmwan, Hasan and Apuy. Police announced that
Azahari Husin, and
Noordin Mohammed Top were suspected of being behind the bombing; Azahari was killed in a raid in November 2005, while
as of 2005 Noordin remains on the run.
In March,
2005, Irun Hidayat was charged with helping to plan, and motivate other people to carry out the act
(BBC). On
July 21, he was convicted of being an accessory by providing a house to Azahari and Noordin, but not to having planned the September attack, and was sentenced to three years in jail. Hidayat was the first man to stand trial related to the embassy bombing.
(BBC).
*
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News.com.au article*
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BBC News article*
Jakarta victims remember embassy blast
