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PM pledges help to bring bombers to justice
Australia today pledged to help Indonesia in any way it wanted to track down those responsible for the Jakarta bombing, which killed up to 16 people and injured around 150. Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday's blast at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel was overwhelmingly a terrorist attack on the Indonesian state and the Indonesian people. Mr Howard said he was today trying to arrange to speak to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri to offer Australia's sympathy. "I will be expressing the great sympathy of the Australian government for what has happened. It would appear that the overwhelming majority of people who have been killed and injured are Indonesians. Although it took place outside a hotel which is frequented by westerners and seen as something of a western symbol, the victims were the men and women of Indonesia. We Australians should understand this is very much an attack on Indonesia."
It's an attack on civilization, John. A western hotel in modern Jakarta came under attack from beturbanned 7th century wannabes...
Mr Howard said Australia had offered the assistance of the Australian Federal Police, with eight crime scene investigators on their way to Jakarta. "We will be willing to help in any way the Indonesians want to track down the people responsible and bring them to justice," he said. Earlier, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the death toll had reached 16, most of them Indonesians. At least one Australian was among the many injured in yesterday's attack on the Marriott Hotel. Latest estimates have put the number of injured at around 150.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-08-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=17332