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Al Qaeda Getting Blame for Bali Bombings

Aired October 14, 2002 - 13:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Al Qaeda is getting the blame for the Bali bombings. Indonesian defense minister says they're behind the attacks that killed more than 180 people on the resort island. At least two Americans are among those killed. And Jake Young, a former football star at the University of Nebraska, is one of the 200 people missing. More an the story from Mike Chinoy in Bali.
Mike, any word on any of these missing people and why so many people are unaccounted for?

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm just a few yards from where the bomb went off. You can see behind me, a kind of makeshift shrine of flowers as people have come here to mourn those that died. One of the really big problems facing the people who are trying to identify the missing count for the dead is that many of the bodies were very badly charred, burned beyond recognition.

When the bomb exploded gas canisters that were used for cooking in these big nightclubs a few yards behind me, and there was a very fierce fire, and the hospital where the corpses have been brought has issued a circular for family members that might be coming to try and identify loved ones, asking for dental records, or any other medical records that could help in this very gruesome and painstaking task, but it's going to take a long time at the moment, but fewer than 40 victims have been positively identified. Many more remain unidentified. It's simply too difficult to do, because of the extensive burn damage -- Carol.

LIN: What is the evidence that Al Qaeda is in fact responsible here, Mike?

CHINOY: Well, the evidence is circumstantial. Indonesian's defense minister came out, the highest ranking government so far, to declare that he's convinced there's an Al Qaeda ring that's viewed as the U.S. government, the Australian government, and other governments in the region, at least the suspicion that they share.

What is making people think that this might be Al Qaeda is the fact that this was a very soft target. It was Westerners. It was designed to kill as many civilians as possible. And it comes as the latest in a pattern of incidence involving suspected Islamic extremists.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a grenade attack aimed at American officials in the capital Jakarta. Before that, the U.S. embassy closed for six days, because they said that there was credible evidence that an attack might be planned. So the suspicion is that Gemaislamia (ph), which is a southeast Asian-based Islamic extremist organization, widely thought to have links with Al Qaeda, may have been involved in some way, but the precise evidence we don't yet have. FBI agents are being joined by Australian detectives to work with the Indonesian authorities to investigate here. The work of sifting through the wreckage behind will resume at first light.

At the moment, what we have are very strong hunches and suspicions. We don't have any evidence, other than the fact that this kind of attack fits the pattern of attacks that Al Qaeda has in the past carried out -- Carol.

LIN: A massive task there indeed. Thank you very much. Mike Chinoy, reporting live in Bali.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 14, 2002 - 13:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Al Qaeda is getting the blame for the Bali bombings. Indonesian defense minister says they're behind the attacks that killed more than 180 people on the resort island. At least two Americans are among those killed. And Jake Young, a former football star at the University of Nebraska, is one of the 200 people missing. More an the story from Mike Chinoy in Bali.
Mike, any word on any of these missing people and why so many people are unaccounted for?

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm just a few yards from where the bomb went off. You can see behind me, a kind of makeshift shrine of flowers as people have come here to mourn those that died. One of the really big problems facing the people who are trying to identify the missing count for the dead is that many of the bodies were very badly charred, burned beyond recognition.

When the bomb exploded gas canisters that were used for cooking in these big nightclubs a few yards behind me, and there was a very fierce fire, and the hospital where the corpses have been brought has issued a circular for family members that might be coming to try and identify loved ones, asking for dental records, or any other medical records that could help in this very gruesome and painstaking task, but it's going to take a long time at the moment, but fewer than 40 victims have been positively identified. Many more remain unidentified. It's simply too difficult to do, because of the extensive burn damage -- Carol.

LIN: What is the evidence that Al Qaeda is in fact responsible here, Mike?

CHINOY: Well, the evidence is circumstantial. Indonesian's defense minister came out, the highest ranking government so far, to declare that he's convinced there's an Al Qaeda ring that's viewed as the U.S. government, the Australian government, and other governments in the region, at least the suspicion that they share.

What is making people think that this might be Al Qaeda is the fact that this was a very soft target. It was Westerners. It was designed to kill as many civilians as possible. And it comes as the latest in a pattern of incidence involving suspected Islamic extremists.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a grenade attack aimed at American officials in the capital Jakarta. Before that, the U.S. embassy closed for six days, because they said that there was credible evidence that an attack might be planned. So the suspicion is that Gemaislamia (ph), which is a southeast Asian-based Islamic extremist organization, widely thought to have links with Al Qaeda, may have been involved in some way, but the precise evidence we don't yet have. FBI agents are being joined by Australian detectives to work with the Indonesian authorities to investigate here. The work of sifting through the wreckage behind will resume at first light.

At the moment, what we have are very strong hunches and suspicions. We don't have any evidence, other than the fact that this kind of attack fits the pattern of attacks that Al Qaeda has in the past carried out -- Carol.

LIN: A massive task there indeed. Thank you very much. Mike Chinoy, reporting live in Bali.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com