Blasts in Jakarta hotels killed 9

• Source: Global Times
• [10:31 July 17 2009]
• Comments

At least nine people were killed and 50 others injured by bombs that exploded at two luxury hotels, the Ritz-Carlton and the JW Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Friday, according to a local police official.

The first blast took place at 7:55 am Jakarta time (00:55 GMT) and five minutes later the second one occurred. The two five-star hotels are facing each other on opposite sides of the street.

The four bodies have been taken to hospital, said South Jakarta police Col. Firman Bundi,

The façade of the Ritz-Carlton hotel was blown off in one of the blasts. Debris and shattered glass littered the street outside the neighboring hotels, according to a report from the Associated Press.

A man jogging by the hotels told the AP he first heard a loud explosion at the JW Marriott, an American-based hotel.

Police evacuated employees of the two hotels and office building around the hotels.

In 2003 a bomb exploded in the same JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta which killed 12 people, including two Chinese tourists and injured 150 people.