Bali, Terrorist Bombing in

Terrorist attack involving the detonation of two bombs at a busy tourist site on the Indonesian island of Bali. On October 12, 2002, half an hour before midnight, a bomb exploded in Paddy's Bar, a Bali locale frequented by foreigners, especially Australian youth with whom Indonesian tourist resorts are immensely popular. The bar's patrons, some hurt from the explosion, evacuated into the street. Within seconds, another, more powerful bomb exploded in the vicinity of Paddy's. A total of 202 people were killed in the blasts. Most of the victims were Australian (more than 80 people); Indonesian (more than 35 people); and British (26 people). A third bomb exploded in front of the U.S. consulate on the island of Bali, but nobody was injured in that attack. A week later, Indonesian police arrested the first of more than 30 people suspected of planning and executing the Bali bombings.

The Group behind the Bombings

The complex investigations that followed the terrorist attack—investigations undertaken not only by the Indonesian authorities, but also by Australian and British task forces—identified the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (Islamic Group) as responsible for the Bali bombings. Suspected of having carried out several other terrorist attacks in the past, Jemaah Islamiyah was also linked by the Indonesian government to al-Qaeda, the international terrorist network founded and financed by Osama bin Laden.

In the wake of the Bali bombings, the U.S. State Department designated Jemaah Islamiyah as a foreign terrorist organization. The group had been founded in the late 1960s with the aim of propagating fundamentalist Islamic precepts, mainly throughout Indonesia but also in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. In the 1990s, Jemaah Islamiyah organized itself as an al-Qaeda-supported terrorist organization, engaging in sporadic violence and logistical support for Muslim militants throughout Southeast Asia. Although the group had been under observation by Indonesian and international authorities for many years, it truly burst on the international terrorist scene only after the 2002 Bali bombings.

The Arrests

A week after the Bali attacks, Indonesian police arrested Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'ashyir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah and one of its founders. He was apprehended in connection with a different series of terrorist attacks, but was suspected of involvement (at least as an instigator) in the Bali bombings as well. Ba'ashyir's trial appearances have been followed closely by millions of Indonesians. More than 30 other people suspected of participating in the Bali attacks were arrested in the following months throughout Southeast Asia.

The planner of the Bali terrorist operation, Imam Samudra, was arrested in November 2002 and sentenced to death a year later. He confessed his involvement in the attacks and gave 13 reasons for attacking the Balinese tourist spots. All of the reasons are presented within the fundamentalist ideological framework of a Muslim's religious duty to fight the infidels (primarily Christians and Jews). Since 2002, many Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda operatives, indirectly connected with the Bali bombings, have been arrested throughout the world. The Indonesian government is currently involved in combating Jemaah Islamiyah and its supporters.