Near-simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and wounding 42 others including foreign businessmen, police said.
A car bomb had also exploded along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been killed. No further details on that blast were available.
The bomb attacks, the first in several years, could badly dent investor confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The Indonesian government has made considerable progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups in recent years, bringing a sense of greater political stability to the country.
Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April and presidential elections earlier this month both passed peacefully, underscoring the progress made by the world's most populous Muslim nation since the chaos and violence that surrounded the downfall of ex-autocrat Suharto in the late 1990s.
"After the elections going off so peacefully, the bomb blasts have come as a shock. Investors will be keeping a close eye on this one," said Singapore-based HSBC economist Prakriti Sofat.
Windows were shattered at both hotels, which are close to each other in the Kuningan business area which is popular with foreigners and Indonesians, with many bars, offices and embassies.
---A car bomb had also exploded along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been killed. No further details on that blast were available.
The bomb attacks, the first in several years, could badly dent investor confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The Indonesian government has made considerable progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups in recent years, bringing a sense of greater political stability to the country.
Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April and presidential elections earlier this month both passed peacefully, underscoring the progress made by the world's most populous Muslim nation since the chaos and violence that surrounded the downfall of ex-autocrat Suharto in the late 1990s.
"After the elections going off so peacefully, the bomb blasts have come as a shock. Investors will be keeping a close eye on this one," said Singapore-based HSBC economist Prakriti Sofat.
Windows were shattered at both hotels, which are close to each other in the Kuningan business area which is popular with foreigners and Indonesians, with many bars, offices and embassies.
Rubeel
www.jzom.com
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