Bali's Cruel Month

By HOWARD CHUA-EOAN.

October is a special month for terrorism, declared Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono in August. "Terrorist cells are still active. They are still hiding, recruiting, networking, trying to find new funding sources and even planning." As if on schedule, on Oct. 1 suicide bombers struck Indonesia's island of Bali, just 11 days shy of the third anniversary of another set of blasts that took 202 lives on the island. At 7:30 p.m. on a crowded Saturday, the popular tourist town of Kuta, the target of the 2002 attacks, was rocked by an explosion. A multistory restaurant was gutted. Simultaneously, restaurants around the crescent beach of Jimbaran Bay, not far south of Kuta, were attacked. Mangled bodies were laid out on the white sand. There were at least 22 dead. As for the injured, said an emergency worker, many had "their faces and arms ... ripped by the glass from stores." Quickly, candle vigils appeared on the island's sidewalks as banners asked, WHY BALI AGAIN?

After the 2002 bombings, Indonesia arrested several foot soldiers of the conspiracy and sentenced a prominent cleric to a short prison term for inspiring the attack. (The CIA caught the plot leader in Thailand in 2003.) Jakarta, however, has not been able to capture two key plotters: Azahari bin Husin and Nurdin Mohammed Top, among the chief operatives of Jemaah Islamiah, a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda. The two are also suspects in subsequent attacks in Jakarta, on the Marriott Hotel in 2003 and the Australian embassy a year later, which killed a total of 23. Azahari is allegedly Jemaah Islamiah's chief bombmaker, Nurdin its treasurer. No one has discounted their involvement this time. "We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice," President Yudhoyono said. But his earlier prediction is a grim one. October has just begun. --By Howard Chua-Eoan. Reported by Maria Bakkalapulo/Bali and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta

With reporting by Reported by Maria Bakkalapulo/Bali, Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta