Bringing it home
I was going to post tonight about the suppression of the press in Russia over the Beslan hostage situation...As I walked in the door from a late tutorial, the SBS World News had already started. I thought there had been another bomb in Iraq or Russia, but noticed the writing on screen (taken from local news sources) and realised it was Indonesia. Stock footage? Something to do with the Bali bombers? And then it hit me.
A large bomb was detonated directly outside the front gate of the Australian embassy in Jakarta today (10.15am local). They say the building is bomb-proof, and for that reason there were only minor injuries inside. Outside at least 7 Indonesians were killed on the street, with 100s of injuries reported. The final number of dead is not expected to be high [Update: 11], but what is high? One is too many.
Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, said Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible for the Bali and Marriott Hotel bombings, was the most obvious suspect.
"Naturally enough, our suspicions turn to Jemaah Islamiyah.
"We had some advice a few days ago of possible... of a possible terrorist attack in Jakarta focusing on western-style hotels and we changed our travel advisory to take that into account," he said.
Asked if he thought the blast was specifically timed to take place during the Australian election campaign, Mr Downer said there was no way of knowing.
"I think for somebody in my position it would be quite dangerous to speculate on that.
"I can only say to you I simply do not know," he said, adding there has been no intelligence suggesting an attempted intervention in the election.
The Australian election is exactly one month away. I don't know what to think. I'm still of the belief it won't happen in Australia but.... am I just holding my hands over my ears screaming 'la-la-la-la-la'? I'll admit, it worries me. Which I guess is the point. No Australian's have died, but it may have the more paranoid amongst us second-guessing the next move...
Anyway, here are some real news sources:
Most of those have additional links, audio and video, if you're so inclined.
the earley edition - Posted by Dave @ 9/09/2004 09:03:00 pm || ||
