Blasts rock Jakarta hotels; 3rd bomb found

JAKARTA, July 17 (UPI) -- The death toll from twin bombings at hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, rose to nine and the number of injured to 55, a Health Ministry official said Friday.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Police anti-bomb squad found and deactivated a third bomb at the JW Marriott Hotel in South Jakarta during a search of the facility after an explosion Friday Morning, The Jakarta Post reported.

A second bomb detonated at the Ritz-Carlton, also in South Jakarta, officials said.

"Nine victims died from the explosion, six in Marriott and three in Ritz Carlton," said Rustam S. Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis management division.

Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Wahyono said the bomb was active when it was found on the 18th floor of the hotel.

"We have successfully deactivated the bomb. It was assembled by hand and was a black powder type bomb," he said.

Although no one so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the bombings as the work of extremists, CNN reported.

"I condemn this terrorist attack," Yudhoyono said. "I know they will never stop."

Yudhoyono spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said the attacks on the hotels, about 160 feet apart, were coordinated.

"This is a blow to us, but I don't have any doubts that we will be able to uncover and find out the perpetrators," Djalal said.

The Marriott Hotel was bombed Aug. 5, 2003. The attack killed 12 people, including a Dutch national, and injured 147 others, the Antara news agency said. The report said two Malaysian suspects in the Marriott attack were allegedly linked to Jemmah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida outfit in Southeast Asia.