2003 Marriott Hotel bombing
| 2003 Marriott Hotel | |
|---|---|
The Marriott Hotel in 2007 four years after the bombing
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| Location | Jakarta, Indonesia |
| Date | 5 August 2003 11:58 am (UTC+7) |
| Target |
6°13′37.3″S 106°49′37″E / 6.227028°S 106.82694°ECoordinates: 6°13′37.3″S 106°49′37″E / 6.227028°S 106.82694°E JW Marriott Jakarta |
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Attack type
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Suicide bombing, car bomb, and other bombing |
| Deaths | 12 |
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Non-fatal injuries
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150 |
| Perpetrators | Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda |
The 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on 5 August 2003 in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, Indonesia. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, killing twelve people and injuring 150. Those killed were mostly Indonesian, with the exception of one Dutch man. The hotel was viewed as a Western symbol, and had been used by the United States embassy for various events. The hotel was closed for five weeks and reopened to the public on 8 September.
Two weeks prior to the bombing, there was a tip call to senior Indonesian police officers from a militant captured during a raid in Semarang that two carloads of bomb-making materials were heading to the capital, Jakarta. During the raid, the police also discovered some drawings outlining specific areas in the city for possible attacks.
A Toyota Kijang, bought on 20 July 2003, from a Jakarta businessman for 25.75 million rupiah was loaded with explosives and driven through the taxi stand in front of the Marriott Hotel. The vehicle stopped briefly in front of the lobby and CCTV cameras show a security guard approaching the vehicle, briefly speaking to the driver. The security guard then turns and a detonation can be seen. It is still not clear if the explosion was accidental, set off by remote detonation or a timer exploding prematurely. If the vehicle had kept a course heading straight for the lobby the damage would undoubtedly have been more severe. The blast radius was visible along the shattered windows of nearby buildings. According to Indonesian police, one of the ingredients in the car bomb contained the same chemical used in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings. The bombs in both cases were made of the same mixture of explosives, mobile phones were used as detonators, and the attackers had tried to scrape off the identification numbers from the vehicle bombs.
The severed head of Asmar Latin Sani, aged 28, and from West Sumatra, was later found on the fifth floor of the building, The head was identified by two jailed members of the Jemaah Islamiyah group who said they had recruited him.
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Wikipedia