Explosions rock Indonesia’s Bali, at least 3 dead

BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) – Up to four explosions rocked
popular tourist areas on the Indonesian resort island of Bali
on Saturday, killing at least three people and wounding dozens
more, local media and witnesses said.

At least three people died in one of the blasts in the Kuta
beach area, police on the scene said.

One witness told El Shinta radio that there were at least
30 casualties at another blast in the Jimbaran Beach area,
although he did not say if any victims were dead. One hospital
said at least 40 injured people had been brought in.

The blasts — which the president called a criminal act —
come almost exactly three years after Islamic militants linked
to al Qaeda bombed two nightclubs in Bali’s famous Kuta Beach
in October 2002, killing 202 people, mainly foreign tourists.

“People were running for their lives. Foreign tourists were
wounded. I am so scared,” Yosi, 24, a shop owner near the Kuta
blast told Reuters.

A separate police official at the island’s headquarters
said he could confirm two explosions, one in Kuta and the other
at a cafe on Jimbaran beach.

Local Metro TV said there were two blasts at Jimbaran and
two at Kuta. It quoted witnesses who said one of the Jimbaran
explosions was near the Four Seasons Hotel.

One of the Kuta blasts caused widespread damage to nearby
shops and restaurants, witnesses said.

“I don’t know about the number of victims or casualties.
We’re still busy collecting data,” police official Suwita said.

Indonesia officials have been warning for months that
Islamic militants were likely to launch more bombing attacks in
the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the blasts and
was heading to the island, his spokesman said.

“The president strongly condemns this criminal act. At this
moment, the president is at the airport (in Jakarta),”
spokesman Andi Mallarangeng told El Shinta radio.

A man who said he witnessed a bomb blast in the Kuta beach
area of Indonesia’s Bali island on Saturday told El Shinta news
radio he saw the severed head of a victim.

The witness, I Wayan Krisna, said he thought the head was
from a Japanese tourist. He also said he saw the severed foot
of another victim.

“One head that I found was Japanese and one other that I
found had a foot like a white’s, like the foot of woman,” he
said.