Terrorists were today blamed for a huge bomb which killed more than 150 people as it ripped through two bars packed with foreign tourists, including many Australians, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
The explosion completely destroyed the bars in the tourist district of Kuta and triggered an intense blaze which burned for hours as rescuers struggled to ferry scores of injured people to hospital.
Traumatised foreign tourists - many covered in blood or with horrific burn injuries - stumbled around the scene looking for loved ones or fled hotel rooms for the safety of the beaches.
No figures were available for the number of Australian killed, although Downer said at least 40 Australians were in hospitals, including 15 seriously injured.
"It is almost certain that several Australians will have been killed," Downer said.
Bars packed with Aussies
The bars were packed with Australians, many of them footballers from NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia on end-of-season tours.
The blasts come just weeks after the United States reopened its diplomatic missions in Indonesia following a shutdown over the September 11 anniversary caused by fears of new attacks by the al-Qaeda network.
Shortly after the blast at around 11pm (0100 Sunday AEST) last night at the Sari Club a second bomb exploded near the honorary US consulate on the island, without causing casualties. Nobody claimed responsibility.
"There are charred and mangled bodies everywhere, it is unbelievable," said French photographer Cyril Terrien at the scene. "I have never seen such an appalling thing in my life."
Clubs destroyed
Witnesses said the blast devastated the Padi bar and the Sari Club across the street, which has a garden that is popular with young foreign tourists, and also ripped apart nearby shops and vehicles.
"We have counted 150 bodies but more are yet to be counted," said Putu Prata Wisada, a doctor at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar, some 15km north of the site.
Bali Police Chief Brigadier General Budi Setiawan told Metro TV the explosion was caused by a bomb, while a senior military official said he believed TNT was used.
Setiawan said witnesses spoke of two separate explosions, a small one followed by a more powerful one seconds later, but he declined to confirm reports it was a car bomb despite the large hole some 1.5 metres deep in the road in front of the Sari Club.
Karim Ansel, 27, from Paris, was in a restaurant around 100 metres away when he also heard two separate explosions.
'Everybody shouting and screaming'
"Everybody was shouting and screaming, there was dust all over the place. Somebody asked me if an aeroplane had fallen on top of us," said a shocked Ansel, who arrived in Bali on holiday 10 days ago.
"As I came out I saw awful, awful things. One person was absolutely covered in blood, another woman was running with her clothes burned onto her body."
About 125 casualties were ferried to Sanglah hospital and several other hospitals in Denpasar, hospital officials said.
An official at Sanglah hospital morgue who identified himself as Wayan said that most of the bodies were foreigners.
Witnesses said body parts were scattered across the site and on the roofs of surrounding buildings.
In a second incident, there was an explosion just 250 metres from the US consulate in the Denpasar suburb of Renon, Bali Police spokesman Suyatmo said.
"The blast took place on the side of the road and there was no one injured because the homemade bomb was apparently thrown and exploded some 250 metres from the US consulate general," he said.
RAAF on its way
Downer said an RAAF medical assistance and evacuation team was on its way to Bali to assist hospitals on the island which have been swamped with injured.
He said the government had been concerned about the possibility of an attack in Indonesia for some time after an organisation called Jemaah Islamiyah tried to attack Australian, British and US targets in Singapore last year.
"Jemaah Islamiyah, JI as it's known, does have links to al-Qaeda, it has financial as well as personnel links to al-Qaeda, and it's conceivable that an organisation like that could be behind this action," he said.
Bali, a postcard paradise island that is about 95 per cent Hindu, is a magnet for holiday makers from Europe, Australia and the United States.
Until now it has avoided much of the unrest that has rocked Indonesia since the fall of the Suharto regime after the 1997-98 financial crisis.
Warnings over al-Qaeda in Indonesia
The United States has issued repeated warnings in recent months over fears Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, may be home to al-Qaeda sympathisers.
After months of official denials, senior Indonesian military officials late last month said they believed al-Qaeda might have a limited network in the country.
The change in attitude coincided with the revelation that former Indonesian resident Omar al-Faruq had admitted under interrogation in US custody to being al-Qaeda's top representative in South-East Asia.
Al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti, also reportedly revealed plans to truck bomb Western embassies in Asia to mark the September 11 anniversary.
AFP
