Many dead in Bali blast

The club was still burning hours later

A bomb on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali has killed at least 58 people in a crowded nightclub in the resort of Kuta.

Police said at least 15 of the dead are foreigners, and more than 120 people were injured - among them Americans, Australians, Britons and Canadians.

There are charred and mangled bodies everywhere, it is unbelievable

French eyewitness Cyril Terrien

A hospital official said many of the bodies brought into hospitals around the island's capital Denpasar were too charred to be identified.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, but the US embassy in Jakarta had recently issued warnings of possible attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Australia's foreign minister said he was "almost certain" that it was terrorist attack.

"It's hard to believe there could be any other explanation for it." said Alexander Downer.

Building ablaze

Reports say the explosion was caused by a car bomb outside the Sari Club, a nightspot popular with Western tourists in Kuta.

Over 100 people were injured by the blast

The area was crowded with people out on a Saturday evening.

One survivor said there were two blasts, the first relatively small but the second so powerful that it brought the building down.

Its thatched roof and wooden walls were set on fire. The blaze spread to a bar opposite and flames were still raging in both buildings several hours afterwards.

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A further explosion went off almost simultaneously near the office of the American honorary consul in Denpasar, but no one was injured.

Chaos and damage

Bali is a popular holiday resort with Western tourists.

British tourist Matt Noyce, from London, was in the bar of the Sari Club when there was a massive blast.

"There was just complete panic in the bar with lots of people diving to the door trying to scramble over each other," he told the BBC.

"Outside it was awful, it was like a scene you'd see from Vietnam. There were bodies everywhere."

Mr Noyce, who helped move the severely injured away from the fires which started after the explosion, said the street had been busy with tourists and locals.

"If it was a bomb they have put it purposely at just the right time," he said.

Another eyewitness, French photographer Cyril Terrien, said he had "never seen such an appalling thing".

"There are charred and mangled bodies everywhere, it is unbelievable," he added.

Embassy worries

The US embassy in Jakarta has issued a series of warnings in recent weeks that its nationals could be targeted by Islamic militants linked to the al-Qaeda terror group.

Bali: Blast could hit lucrative tourism industry

The embassy itself closed for several days last month after intelligence reports indicated militant groups were planning car bomb attacks.

BBC Jakarta correspondent Richard Galpin says the embassy has been considering evacuating non-essential staff because of continuing fears of attack.

Indonesian officials have in the past denied that militants linked to al-Qaeda are active in the country.

However, authorities in Malaysia and Singapore have claimed that members of a group known as Jemaah Islamiyah - said to be seeking to set up an Islamic state in South East Asia - are based in Indonesia.

The blasts came just hours after a small handmade bomb went off near the Philippine Consulate in the port city of Manado on the central island of Sulawesi, about 2,160km (1,350 miles) north-east of Jakarta.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. It was not clear whether the explosions in Bali were related to the Manado blast.

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