Bali Nightclub Bombing

On October 12, 2002, a car bomb exploded outside a nightclub in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing more than 200 people. Aside from the loss of life, the attack was of great significance to Southeast Asia, Australia, and the entire global community for a number of reasons. First, coming as it did 13 months after the 9/11 attacks, the Bali bombing reinforced the view that transnational terrorism was spreading to other parts of the world much faster than intelligence analysts and commentators had predicted. Second, the attack was not only the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Southeast Asia, it also signaled that Muslim militants were extending the ideology of their fight beyond the Israeli-Palestinian problem, which the 9/11 terrorists had claimed as their driving force. Third, the Bali bombing demonstrated that al Qaeda could rely entirely on local agents to carry out its mission without direct support from Osama bin Laden. And finally, the bombing demonstrated that the earlier decision taken by some Southeast Asian extremist groups to send recruits to training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan beginning in the mid-1980s was beginning to pay dividends. Thus, Afghanistan and Pakistan had played a greater role in shaping the perspectives of the Bali bombers than did the Middle East.

The Bali terrorists killed 202 people, of whom 152 were foreign nationals from over 20 countries, including Australia (88), the United Kingdom (24), the United States (7), Germany (6), Sweden (5), France (4), the Netherlands (4), Denmark (3), New Zealand (3), and Switzerland (3). About 240 additional people were injured.

The Bali attack actually involved the detonation of three bombs. In addition to the bomb at the Sari Club, a backpack-mounted device carried by a suicide bomber exploded in Paddy's Pub, a bar across the street from the Sari Club, minutes before the car bomb exploded; a third, smaller, device was detonated outside the United States [Page 89]consulate in Denpasar. This third bomb did not cause any fatalities. The terrorists in this case targeted venues that were owned or frequented by foreigners, especially Australians. The Sari Club and Paddy's Pub were very popular with Western tourists. The message here was that the terrorists were aiming at so-called soft targets—lightly defended spots frequented by civilians.

From left: Convicted Bali bombers Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas, Imam Samudera alias Abdul Aziz, and Amrozi bin Nurhasyim during their trials in 2003 for the nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people. Indonesia's Supreme Court in August 2007 rejected their appeal, and the men have been quoted as saying they would not seek clemency from the president, their last avenue of appeal. (AFP PHOTO/FILES/INDAH WINARSO; AFP PHOTO/FILES/ADEK BERRY; BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

A short time after the bombing, both Indonesian analysts and Western intelligence agencies concluded that Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the attack. Jemaah Islamiyah is a violent Islamist group that evolved from a faction of the Darul Islam political movement at the urging of Abu Bakar Bashir and the late Abdullah Sungkar. Despite his denials, Bashir is considered the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah. Moreover, two of the bombers, Amrozi and Mukhlas, were Bashir's students. Like Bashir, Amrozi and Mukhlas called for an Islamic state and for the implementation of Islamic or Shariah law in Indonesia. Amrozi, Mukhlas, and Imam Samudra, who masterminded the Bali bombing, were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. The three were killed by a firing squad on November 9, 2008. As they were executed, they shouted “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great.”

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