There Was A Bomb Exploding At The JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta In History Today, August 5, 2003

JAKARTA - On August 5, 2003, at 12.45 WIB and 12.55 WIB, there was a bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel, Jakarta. The explosion was an act of suicide bombing and came from the Toyota Kijang car driven by Asmar Latin Sani. As a result of the explosion, 12 people were killed and 150 others were injured.

Initially the car was carrying six jerry cans containing flammable chemicals. Two of them contain trinitrotoluene (TNT), Research and Development Explosive (RDX), Teryl, and High Melting Explosive (HMX). While the other four jerry cans are gasoline mixed with kerosene. Asmar Latin Sani's severed head was found on the fifth floor of the JW Marriot building.

Citing The Christian Science Monitor, the resulting explosion destroyed the restaurant, which was where many foreigners congregated. The condition was crowded because it coincided with lunch time. The injured also included foreign nationals including two Americans, two Australians, four Singaporeans and a New Zealander. A Dutch banking executive was killed.

The Metro Jaya Police Chief at the time, Inspector General Makbul Padmanegara and the Indonesian National Police Chief, Police General Da'i Bachtiar, said that the JW Marriott bombing model was similar to the 2002 Bali bombing. Deer, thrown engine, radiator, and thrown parts of the steering wheel. Similar to the Bali bombing, the bomb exploded with a car,” said Da'i.

In addition to taking lives, the act of terror at the JW Marriott also had an economic impact on Indonesia. At that time, the main Jakarta stock market index fell 3.1 percent and the rupiah lost as much as 2 percent of its value against the US dollar. JW Mariot itself is a hotel that is often visited by high-ranking foreign nationals and has been repeatedly chosen by the US Embassy as the venue for various events.

The attack came just two days before a court in Bali was scheduled to deliver the first verdict in the trial of the alleged perpetrators of the Bali bombings that took place in October 2002.

Six days after the incident, the al-Qaeda terrorist network claimed responsibility for the JW Marriott bombing. Al-Qaeda currently said that the bomb carrier was one of 15 people who joined the suicide squad.

Al-Qaeda has also promised to launch more attacks. Meanwhile, Asmar Latin Sani's face was identified by two jailed members of the Jamaah Islamiyah group who said they recruited him.

Citing the Sydney Morning Herald, Clive Williams, a terrorism expert at the Australian National University, said al-Qaeda had a history of claiming responsibility for bombings that were not carried out.

"That's standard practice for al-Qaeda, they will usually claim international incidents that are consistent with what they are trying to achieve," Williams said. Williams also said al-Qaeda had also claimed responsibility for the bombings in Morocco and the Bali bombings in 2002.

"I'm not saying that al-Qaeda is not linked to Jemaah Islamiyah and they sometimes provide assistance to local groups by providing bomb-making expertise, training and stuff, and also some funding, but usually it's a self-developed agenda. ," said Williams.

In 2009, there was another bombing at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton. The bombing was a suicide and killed 9 people and injured more than 50 people, both Indonesians and foreigners. In addition to the bomb, there was a similar unexploded bomb in room 1808 of the JW Marriott Hotel which was occupied for two days by hotel guests who were suspected of being the bombers.

The bombings occurred nine days after the presidential and vice presidential elections and two days before the arrival of the Manchester United football team at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Manchester United at that time will have a match with the Indonesian All Star team on July 20, 2009.

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