Mourning as Jakarta probes bombs

Wreaths have been laid and prayers said near the site in Jakarta, Indonesia, where two bombs exploded on Friday.

A multi-faith ceremony near the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotels was being organised to show community solidarity.

Police and security analysts have said the attacks were most likely carried out by an offshoot of the militant Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah.

The bombs, which struck the two US-owned luxury hotels, killed nine people including two suicide bombers.

Scores of people are still in hospital being treated for wounds received in the blasts.

Crowds have also been milling around the bomb sites, reading messages left by others - most of them condemning terrorism.

Sadness and shock

Relatives of some of the victims in the bombing have come to Jakarta for memorials and to collect the bodies.

New Zealander Timothy Mackay, 62, president director of Holcim Indonesia cement company, was among the dead, as were Australians Nathan Verity and Garth McEvoy.

Craig Senger has become the first Australian government official to be killed in a terrorist attack; he worked as a trade commission officer at the embassy in Jakarta.

Officials said 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including eight Americans and citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.

Several reports suggest the regular Friday morning business breakfast at the JW Marriott Hotel, hosted by well-known business consultant James Castle, was one target of the attack.

Indonesian television has broadcast security camera footage showing what appears to have been the suicide bomber coming out of the lift and walking directly to the lounge where the business breakfast was always held.

Reports also say a hotel security guard stopped the alleged bomber and asked what he was doing, before letting him make what he called "a delivery" to the room - which then exploded.

Reactions have been muted on Monday's public holiday in Indonesia but people interviewed on the streets said they were shocked at the bomb attacks after several years of stability and economic growth.

Probing

Police say they are investigating similarities to the twin bomb attacks on Bali in 2002, which killed 202 people.

NOORDIN MOHAMED TOP

• Born in Malaysia, fled to Indonesia after 9/11
• Wanted for planning bombings on Bali in 2002 and 2005 and other attacks
• Said to have split from Jemaah Islamiah over strategy disagreements and set up new group
• Main accomplice Azahari Husin killed by police in 2005
• Escaped police raid in 2006 and continues to evade capture

Profile: Noordin Mohamed Top

Profile: Jemaah Islamiah

Friday's bombs also resemble bomb-making material found during recent police raids on an Islamic boarding school in Cilacap, Central Java.

Police said they are trying to reconstruct the face of one of the dead suicide bombers before they can be absolutely certain of the identities of those involved.

Speculation has focused on two graduates of the Ngruki boarding school, which is led by controversial cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Police are hunting for Noordin Mohammad Top, a fugitive Malaysian who heads a particularly violent offshoot of the Jemaah Islamiah network and has been linked to four major attacks in Indonesia since 2002.

Police are also looking for connections between Friday's bombing and explosives discovered last week in the Cilacap region of Central Java. The explosives were buried in a garden at the house of Noordin's father-in-law, who is also at large.

Noordin was said to be a key financier for Jemaah Islamiah but is now thought to have set up his own splinter group.

Jemaah Islamiah has links to al-Qaeda and has a long track record of bomb attacks in Indonesia, including the Bali bombings.