A senior Indonesian anti-terror official has named two Malaysian fugitives as suspects in yesterday attacks on Bali which killed 26 people and wounded 122 others.
The attacks struck two seafood cafes in the Jimbaran beach resort and a three-story noodle and steakhouse in downtown Kuta. Kuta is the bustling tourist center of Bali where two nightclubs were bombed three years ago, also on a busy Saturday night, killing 202 people.
The Department of Foreign Affairs have said that as far as they are aware, no Irish citizens were in the vicinity of the bombings. A helpline was set up for anyone concerned about Irish citizens in Bali.
The two suspects are alleged key members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group which is thought to have masterminded the latest attacks.
The two have been accused of orchestrating the 2002 bombings which killed mostly foreigners and two other attacks in the Indonesian capital in 2003 and 2004. The latter attacks also involved suicide bombers.
"The modus operandi of Saturday's attacks is the same as the earlier ones," said Mbai, who identified the two suspected masterminds as Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top.
He said the two were not believed to be among the three suicide attackers. The assailants' remains were found at the bombing scenes but they have not yet been identified, he said.
"I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet," he told The Associated Press agency. "By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists."
The latest attacks came a month after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned of possible terrorist attacks. On Saturday, he blamed terrorists and warned that more attacks were possible.
"We will hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice," he said.
Video footage of one of the blasts showed groups of tourists, many apparently Westerners, seated at candle-lit tables talking and sipping drinks seconds before the explosion.
The head waiter at the Menega Cafe said the bomb went off at his beachside restaurant between the tables of two large dinner parties, who were sitting in the sand. Most of the 120 diners at the restaurant were Indonesian, he said.
"Everyone started screaming "Allah, Allah, help!" said Wayan Subagia, 23, who escaped with injuries to his leg. "One woman rushed to pick up her child but the little girl was already dead."
Minutes later he heard another blast at the nearby Nyoman seafood restaurant. At about the same time, three miles away in Kuta, a bomb exploded at the Raja restaurant in a bustling outdoor shopping centre.
Western and Indonesian intelligence agencies have warned repeatedly that Jemaah Islamiyah was plotting more attacks in the world's most populous Muslim country. Last month, Yudhoyono said he was especially worried the extremist network was about to strike.
"I received information at the time that terrorists were planning an action in Jakarta and that explosives were ready," he said Saturday.
Two Australians and a Japanese citizen were killed, along with 12 Indonesians. Hospital officials were trying to identify the 10 other corpses.
The 101 wounded included 49 Indonesians, 17 Australians, six Koreans, four Japanese and two Americans, officials said.