Survivors, relatives of the victims and government officials yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the deadly bombings on Bali by Islamic extremists.
The attack, which was blamed on the militant Jemaah Islamiyah network linked to al-Qaeda, claimed the lives of 202 people from 22 countries. Australia, which for years saw Bali as its playground, had the most victims, with 88.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer read a statement from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during a ceremony attended by some 100 people at the Australian consulate on the resort island.
“The 12 October 2002 tragedy shocked Australia. For those who lost loved ones, life will never be the same,” Rudd said in a statement.
“We think of the families and friends of the victims. Our thoughts and sympathies will always be with them,” he said.
Tearful mourners took turns placing bouquets of flowers at a wooden cross memorial built by victims’ families at the Australian consulate in the Balinese capital Denpasar.
Rudd praised Indonesia for the crackdown it carried out in the wake of the worst terror attack in the region.
“We can be proud that the partnership between Indonesia and Australia is the strongest it has ever been,” he said.
Farmer said it was hoped terrorists would continue to be brought to justice.
The anniversary was held amid a promise from the Indonesian government that the three key bombers — Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron — would be executed by the end of the year.
Indonesian prosecutors had earlier put plans on hold to execute the bombers before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on September, citing bureaucratic delays.
Lars Bergander, a Swedish man whose teenager daughter was killed, said he eagerly awaited the execution.
“I’m glad that your government managed to arrest the terrorists. But I don’t understand why they postponed the execution from time to time,” he said.
Balinese Ray Yulia said her father, working as a driver, was killed when he was waiting for a passenger outside the Sari Club devastated by the blasts.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing