Explosions At Ritz Carlton And JW Marriot Hotels In Jakarta

July 17th, 2009 - 1:45 pm ICT by GD -

Two explosions have been reported to have taken place at the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriot hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia today. The blasts which took place at these luxury hotels has left at least 50 people injured and 9 dead.

Experts as well as former US security officers with experience in Indonesia have pointed towards a group called Jemayah Islamiya which has close links with the Al Qaeda, for these blasts. In fact security officials and government authorities are searching for a man named Noordin Top, who is feared to be the bomb expert of the said group and there was information about him planning a big attack or explosion.

Confidence has been hit in Indonesia and the business community as well as the general people seem to be shaken by this sudden unfortunate development. As a result the country’s stock exchange JKSE has seen a 2% fall just after the twin blasts. They are weary about how this incident would pan out over the economic and business scenario in the near future. The optimism which was palpable on the streets after a successful presidential election last week, seems to have been dented quite a bit.

The country has seen various terrorist attacks in the past, one of the deadliest being the Bali-bombings in which 202 people were killed in the year 2002, many among the dead being foreigners. On another note it has been reported that the English soccer team of Manchester United were on schedule to stay at Ritz Carlton before a match with the All-Stars team of Indonesia. But these deadly blasts must have altered their plans.