Have people already posted on this?
Friday 17 July, bomb attacks at Marriot and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta. (Let's take a wild guess: Islamists.)
Police still investigating, but find it reminiscent of one islamic group - Jeemah Islamiyah - which had also attacked Marriot previously. If not them, I'm guessing it will be some other set of shaheedis trying to take down some 'European Infidels'.
1. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/1...els.explosions/
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Police may have found Jakarta bomber's laptop</b>
  * Story Highlights
  * NEW: Police recover laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers
  * Hotel bombs similar to those linked to notorious militant fugitive
  * Nine dead, including at least two suicide bombers, and 50 injured
  * Unexploded bomb found on 18th floor of Marriott hotel in Jakarta
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesian police have recovered a laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers of Friday's twin hotel attacks in Jakarta, the country's official news agency said Sunday.
Police investigate the aftermath of a bomb blast at a restaurant in the Marriot hotel in Jakarta.
The laptop contained information and codes that the attackers may have used to communicate with each other, the state-run Antara News Agency said.
The computer was found in a room at the Ritz Carlton, one of two hotels targeted Friday. The other site was the JW Marriott.
The blasts killed nine people -- including at least two presumed suicide bombers -- and wounded more than 50.
Anti-terrorism officials are investigating the links between the attacks and Noordin M. Top, the suspected leader of a small Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group. The group has ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, but so far there has been no claim of responsibility for the latest attack.
Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bomb-maker, and trainer for the group, which was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott -- in August 2003 -- as well as attacks on a Bali nightclub in 2003 and the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004, according to the FBI.
Among the victims who have been identified by Indonesia's health ministry, two were Australian, and one each from New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Among the wounded were six U.S. nationals, according to the State Department.
On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed one of the victims, saying Garth McEvoy was the first government official to be killed by a terrorist attack in the line of duty.
Rudd also said two other Australians were presumed dead.
Don't Miss
  * Blog: Hotel bomb suspect could strike again
  * Indonesia has a history of bombings
  * iReport.com: Send your photos, videos
  * Why hotels make tempting terror targets
Indonesia's National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso has said the type of explosives found were similar to those found in a recent raid on a home in West Java that was linked to Top.
"We cannot clearly determine at this time if these bombings are linked to Noordin Top's network. We have only established similarities in the explosive cache that were found in the island of Java and the Bali bombings," police said.
Closed-circuit television footage from the Marriott shows a man, sporting a baseball cap and pulling a wheeled suitcase, heading toward the hotel's lobby-level restaurant seconds before the deadly blast.
Didik Ahmad Taufik, the Marriott's security supervisor, told reporters Saturday that a man, matching the image on the security camera footage, was walking "awkwardly" into the hotel's restaurant about 30 minutes before the blast.
The man told Taufik he was at the hotel to deliver an item to his boss.
Emergency numbers
Marriott/Ritz-Carlton Family Assistance Hotline
+1 8662114610
+14023903265
Taufik said he asked a security guard to accompany the man as he made his delivery.
"But unluckily, a few minutes after that, I heard an explosion and was hit by debris from the ceiling," Taufik said, according to Antara.
One of the suspected bombers had been staying at the hotel since June 15, he said.
The bombings at the two luxury hotels -- which are connected by an underground tunnel -- happened shortly before 8 a.m. (9 p.m. Thursday ET). Both blasts struck the hotels' restaurants.
The hotels are frequented by international visitors and many foreign nationals.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
2. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07...jw-marriot.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Bomber likely entered Ritz-Carlton via tunnel from JW Marriot</b>
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 07/19/2009 11:50 AM | National
A suicide bomber at the Ritz-Calrton Jakarta hotel likely entered the hotel via an underground tunnel from JW Marriot, Tempointeraktif.com reported Sunday.
A Hotel staff told Tempointeraktif.com that a few minutes before the explosion, he saw a man in a black suit with white shirt carrying a backpack and lugging a suitcase walking from J.W. Marriot moments after the bomb exploded at Marriot.
"I'm sure he is the bomber," the staff said.
The tunnel, he said, was only used for employees, but the man escaped inspection because security was in disarray following explosion at Marriot.
From the tunnel, the man allegedly walked toward Airlangga restaurant and moment later the bomb exploded.
Meanwhile, police sources told tempointeraktif.com that the police were identifying a woman whose body was most destroyed, indicating that the woman could be the suicide bomber at Ritz Carlton.
The bombing at Ritz Carlton killed three people, including the suicide bomber, while the bombing at Marriot killed six.
The twin hotel bombings injured more than 50 people.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/1...akarta-bombings
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Jeemah Islamiyah: Islamist social movement with global ambitions</b>
Jason Burke looks at the complex structure of the Indonesian extremist group suspected of the Jakarta hotel bombings
     o guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 July 2009 15.06 BST
(Image
Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir
The co-founder of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Bashir, is not believed to be in a position to instigate attacks. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
As the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, immediately and rightly pointed out, it is too early to say who is responsible for the two bomb attacks in Jakarta today. But there is one obvious prime suspect: the extremist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which in various guises has been linked to all the other large-scale "spectacular" strikes in Indonesia since 2002.
The bombings are the first for four years and come a week after peaceful presidential polls which are set to see the pro-US Yudhoyono confirmed as victor when official results are announced in two weeks. The attacks show the tenacity of Islamic extremism in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation despite pressure from Indonesian security forces, the arrest of its top leaders and a failure to attract more than a tiny minority of the population. They also demonstrate the ability of Islamic militancy to exist without direct links to al-Qaida's leadership in Pakistan.
JI has evolved significantly since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, mainly western tourists, and brought it to global attention. Since then, and as with such movements elsewhere, it has become more complex and fragmented.
Mainstream JI factions now oppose violence unless it is in direct defence of threatened Muslim communities â understood as those caught up in Indonesia's periodic bouts of sectarian violence. <b>Instead, they believe the best way to realise their eventual goal of an Islamic state in Indonesia and across much of south-east Asia is dawa, or proselytisation.</b>
(What? Like in Malaysia: declaring all those who are born ethnic Malays as being automatically islamic? And where the body of Hindu soldiers who have passed away are stolen and buried in islamic fashion and declared islamists?)
JI's co-founder, the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir who was imprisoned in the wake of the Bali bombings and then controversially acquitted, continues to use violent language but is not believed to be in a position to actively instigate attacks even if he wished to do so.
However, a hardline fringe of JI believes the moderates have sold out.
Constituting a loose network on the margins of the organisation, rather than a coherent faction, the most prominent among the hardliners is Noorudin Mohammed Top. According to Australian security sources, the Malaysian-born recruiter and bomb-maker was responsible for the attack on the JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta in 2003, the suicide bombing of the Australian embassy in 2004, and a second round of bombings in Bali in 2005.
Top has been on the run for many years â which in itself indicates that JI continues to maintain sufficient safehouses and have enough sympathisers to keep key leaders out of the hands of security forces. He and a new generation of radicals have the potential to launch more attacks, according to Dr Carl Ungerer, at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Some JI members who have been released from prison after a deradicalisation programme could also pose a threat, Ungerer argues.
An insight into the nature of JI cell recruitment came during a trial in April when 10 men involved in a jihadist group in the city of Palembang, south Sumatra, were jailed for killing a Christian teacher and planning more ambitious attacks. The case showed how a local non-violent religious study circle, unaffiliated to JI, had been gradually turned into a militant jihadi group. This was done through contact with two charismatic and influential individuals who were able to radicalise group members by playing on pre-existing beliefs and fears. The first big step, according to an International Crisis Group report into the case, was getting the members to consider violence against the Christian missionaries they had only previously preached against.
This local element gave the global ideology of violent jihad more immediacy and thus more purchase. Once the group was willing to kill, it became possible to suggest a broader range of targets, including western civilians. The recruits' motivation often flagged â requiring constant boosting by the more motivated leaders â and their tradecraft was poor, leading to several amateurish errors. But they nonetheless posed a significant threat and demonstrate how Islamic radicalism in the region is often closer in structure to a social movement than a hierarchical militant organisation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Friday 17 July, bomb attacks at Marriot and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta. (Let's take a wild guess: Islamists.)
Police still investigating, but find it reminiscent of one islamic group - Jeemah Islamiyah - which had also attacked Marriot previously. If not them, I'm guessing it will be some other set of shaheedis trying to take down some 'European Infidels'.
1. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/1...els.explosions/
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Police may have found Jakarta bomber's laptop</b>
  * Story Highlights
  * NEW: Police recover laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers
  * Hotel bombs similar to those linked to notorious militant fugitive
  * Nine dead, including at least two suicide bombers, and 50 injured
  * Unexploded bomb found on 18th floor of Marriott hotel in Jakarta
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesian police have recovered a laptop that they believe belonged to one of the bombers of Friday's twin hotel attacks in Jakarta, the country's official news agency said Sunday.
Police investigate the aftermath of a bomb blast at a restaurant in the Marriot hotel in Jakarta.
The laptop contained information and codes that the attackers may have used to communicate with each other, the state-run Antara News Agency said.
The computer was found in a room at the Ritz Carlton, one of two hotels targeted Friday. The other site was the JW Marriott.
The blasts killed nine people -- including at least two presumed suicide bombers -- and wounded more than 50.
Anti-terrorism officials are investigating the links between the attacks and Noordin M. Top, the suspected leader of a small Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group. The group has ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, but so far there has been no claim of responsibility for the latest attack.
Top is reportedly an officer, recruiter, bomb-maker, and trainer for the group, which was involved in a previous attack on the Marriott -- in August 2003 -- as well as attacks on a Bali nightclub in 2003 and the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004, according to the FBI.
Among the victims who have been identified by Indonesia's health ministry, two were Australian, and one each from New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Among the wounded were six U.S. nationals, according to the State Department.
On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed one of the victims, saying Garth McEvoy was the first government official to be killed by a terrorist attack in the line of duty.
Rudd also said two other Australians were presumed dead.
Don't Miss
  * Blog: Hotel bomb suspect could strike again
  * Indonesia has a history of bombings
  * iReport.com: Send your photos, videos
  * Why hotels make tempting terror targets
Indonesia's National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso has said the type of explosives found were similar to those found in a recent raid on a home in West Java that was linked to Top.
"We cannot clearly determine at this time if these bombings are linked to Noordin Top's network. We have only established similarities in the explosive cache that were found in the island of Java and the Bali bombings," police said.
Closed-circuit television footage from the Marriott shows a man, sporting a baseball cap and pulling a wheeled suitcase, heading toward the hotel's lobby-level restaurant seconds before the deadly blast.
Didik Ahmad Taufik, the Marriott's security supervisor, told reporters Saturday that a man, matching the image on the security camera footage, was walking "awkwardly" into the hotel's restaurant about 30 minutes before the blast.
The man told Taufik he was at the hotel to deliver an item to his boss.
Emergency numbers
Marriott/Ritz-Carlton Family Assistance Hotline
+1 8662114610
+14023903265
Taufik said he asked a security guard to accompany the man as he made his delivery.
"But unluckily, a few minutes after that, I heard an explosion and was hit by debris from the ceiling," Taufik said, according to Antara.
One of the suspected bombers had been staying at the hotel since June 15, he said.
The bombings at the two luxury hotels -- which are connected by an underground tunnel -- happened shortly before 8 a.m. (9 p.m. Thursday ET). Both blasts struck the hotels' restaurants.
The hotels are frequented by international visitors and many foreign nationals.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
2. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/07...jw-marriot.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Bomber likely entered Ritz-Carlton via tunnel from JW Marriot</b>
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 07/19/2009 11:50 AM | National
A suicide bomber at the Ritz-Calrton Jakarta hotel likely entered the hotel via an underground tunnel from JW Marriot, Tempointeraktif.com reported Sunday.
A Hotel staff told Tempointeraktif.com that a few minutes before the explosion, he saw a man in a black suit with white shirt carrying a backpack and lugging a suitcase walking from J.W. Marriot moments after the bomb exploded at Marriot.
"I'm sure he is the bomber," the staff said.
The tunnel, he said, was only used for employees, but the man escaped inspection because security was in disarray following explosion at Marriot.
From the tunnel, the man allegedly walked toward Airlangga restaurant and moment later the bomb exploded.
Meanwhile, police sources told tempointeraktif.com that the police were identifying a woman whose body was most destroyed, indicating that the woman could be the suicide bomber at Ritz Carlton.
The bombing at Ritz Carlton killed three people, including the suicide bomber, while the bombing at Marriot killed six.
The twin hotel bombings injured more than 50 people.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/1...akarta-bombings
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Jeemah Islamiyah: Islamist social movement with global ambitions</b>
Jason Burke looks at the complex structure of the Indonesian extremist group suspected of the Jakarta hotel bombings
     o guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 July 2009 15.06 BST
(Image
Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar BashirThe co-founder of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Bashir, is not believed to be in a position to instigate attacks. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
As the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, immediately and rightly pointed out, it is too early to say who is responsible for the two bomb attacks in Jakarta today. But there is one obvious prime suspect: the extremist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which in various guises has been linked to all the other large-scale "spectacular" strikes in Indonesia since 2002.
The bombings are the first for four years and come a week after peaceful presidential polls which are set to see the pro-US Yudhoyono confirmed as victor when official results are announced in two weeks. The attacks show the tenacity of Islamic extremism in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation despite pressure from Indonesian security forces, the arrest of its top leaders and a failure to attract more than a tiny minority of the population. They also demonstrate the ability of Islamic militancy to exist without direct links to al-Qaida's leadership in Pakistan.
JI has evolved significantly since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, mainly western tourists, and brought it to global attention. Since then, and as with such movements elsewhere, it has become more complex and fragmented.
Mainstream JI factions now oppose violence unless it is in direct defence of threatened Muslim communities â understood as those caught up in Indonesia's periodic bouts of sectarian violence. <b>Instead, they believe the best way to realise their eventual goal of an Islamic state in Indonesia and across much of south-east Asia is dawa, or proselytisation.</b>
(What? Like in Malaysia: declaring all those who are born ethnic Malays as being automatically islamic? And where the body of Hindu soldiers who have passed away are stolen and buried in islamic fashion and declared islamists?)
JI's co-founder, the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir who was imprisoned in the wake of the Bali bombings and then controversially acquitted, continues to use violent language but is not believed to be in a position to actively instigate attacks even if he wished to do so.
However, a hardline fringe of JI believes the moderates have sold out.
Constituting a loose network on the margins of the organisation, rather than a coherent faction, the most prominent among the hardliners is Noorudin Mohammed Top. According to Australian security sources, the Malaysian-born recruiter and bomb-maker was responsible for the attack on the JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta in 2003, the suicide bombing of the Australian embassy in 2004, and a second round of bombings in Bali in 2005.
Top has been on the run for many years â which in itself indicates that JI continues to maintain sufficient safehouses and have enough sympathisers to keep key leaders out of the hands of security forces. He and a new generation of radicals have the potential to launch more attacks, according to Dr Carl Ungerer, at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Some JI members who have been released from prison after a deradicalisation programme could also pose a threat, Ungerer argues.
An insight into the nature of JI cell recruitment came during a trial in April when 10 men involved in a jihadist group in the city of Palembang, south Sumatra, were jailed for killing a Christian teacher and planning more ambitious attacks. The case showed how a local non-violent religious study circle, unaffiliated to JI, had been gradually turned into a militant jihadi group. This was done through contact with two charismatic and influential individuals who were able to radicalise group members by playing on pre-existing beliefs and fears. The first big step, according to an International Crisis Group report into the case, was getting the members to consider violence against the Christian missionaries they had only previously preached against.
This local element gave the global ideology of violent jihad more immediacy and thus more purchase. Once the group was willing to kill, it became possible to suggest a broader range of targets, including western civilians. The recruits' motivation often flagged â requiring constant boosting by the more motivated leaders â and their tradecraft was poor, leading to several amateurish errors. But they nonetheless posed a significant threat and demonstrate how Islamic radicalism in the region is often closer in structure to a social movement than a hierarchical militant organisation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> 
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->