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Terrorism in Indonesia

Aired August 05, 2003 - 15:02   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: To Indonesia and the second major terror attack in that country in a year. No one has claimed responsibility for today's deadly bombing outside a hotel in Jakarta, but officials suspect that an al Qaeda-linked terror group may be to blame.
CNN's Maria Ressa is on the phone us now with us from Jakarta.

Maria, what are you learning at this point?

MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, I just got back from the site.

The explosion happened more than 13 hours ago. Although it's past 2:00 in the morning here, there is still a crowd outside the Marriott Hotel. You see high-powered lights are illuminating the scene there. The destruction is very apparent even in the middle of the night. There are four Army trucks parked outside. About 40 to 50 Indonesian police officers are pushing the people back, holding them back behind the line.

Their job, essentially, is to keep that area free of any contamination, so that forensics experts can continue doing their work. And that is to figure out exactly what the ingredients were in this bomb and how the attack actually happened -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Maria, what is known about the security around this hotel? Jakarta has obviously been the site of some terror activity in the past. What about security?

RESSA: Well, this hotel in particular was believed to have the best security in the city. The J.W. Marriott is the newest hotel here. It's next door to a building which houses four European embassies. It's also -- the Marriott is also used by the U.S. Embassy here.

In fact, the last two Fourth of July celebrations took place at the Marriott. It's got high-tech security, screens and processes as you enter the building. The bombers found a vulnerable spot. They essentially drove a vehicle with the explosive inside it directly through into the lobby. The national police chief in Indonesia basically said that the car or vehicle was still moving when the bomb exploded.

And you can see the scope of the radius of the explosion in the windows that were shattered in the building. Immediately on top of it, one over to the left, you can see that entire building blacked out, all the windows shattered. And then, on the other side the Marriott itself, some windows are still intact, but there's a slight circular outline of where windows remain intact. And right below it, you can see that everything has been shattered.

WOODRUFF: All right, CNN's Maria Ressa reporting on the phone for us from Jakarta -- thank you, Maria.

Well, for its part, the Bush administration says it's still investigating a possible al Qaeda connection to that attack in Jakarta and whether American interests were what was targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a deplorable attack on innocent civilians. And our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and with their families. We fully support President Megawati and her administration in their efforts to fight terror and root out terrorism. And we stand fully prepared to assist in any way possible in bringing those responsible to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Spokesman Scott McClellan spoke in Crawford, Texas. He says the president planned to discuss the gamut of foreign policy issues today when Secretary of State Colin Powell and his top deputy, Richard Armitage, visited Mr. Bush at his ranch.

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 August 5, 2003 - 15:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: To Indonesia and the second major terror attack in that country in a year. No one has claimed responsibility for today's deadly bombing outside a hotel in Jakarta, but officials suspect that an al Qaeda-linked terror group may be to blame.
CNN's Maria Ressa is on the phone us now with us from Jakarta.

Maria, what are you learning at this point?

MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, I just got back from the site.

The explosion happened more than 13 hours ago. Although it's past 2:00 in the morning here, there is still a crowd outside the Marriott Hotel. You see high-powered lights are illuminating the scene there. The destruction is very apparent even in the middle of the night. There are four Army trucks parked outside. About 40 to 50 Indonesian police officers are pushing the people back, holding them back behind the line.

Their job, essentially, is to keep that area free of any contamination, so that forensics experts can continue doing their work. And that is to figure out exactly what the ingredients were in this bomb and how the attack actually happened -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Maria, what is known about the security around this hotel? Jakarta has obviously been the site of some terror activity in the past. What about security?

RESSA: Well, this hotel in particular was believed to have the best security in the city. The J.W. Marriott is the newest hotel here. It's next door to a building which houses four European embassies. It's also -- the Marriott is also used by the U.S. Embassy here.

In fact, the last two Fourth of July celebrations took place at the Marriott. It's got high-tech security, screens and processes as you enter the building. The bombers found a vulnerable spot. They essentially drove a vehicle with the explosive inside it directly through into the lobby. The national police chief in Indonesia basically said that the car or vehicle was still moving when the bomb exploded.

And you can see the scope of the radius of the explosion in the windows that were shattered in the building. Immediately on top of it, one over to the left, you can see that entire building blacked out, all the windows shattered. And then, on the other side the Marriott itself, some windows are still intact, but there's a slight circular outline of where windows remain intact. And right below it, you can see that everything has been shattered.

WOODRUFF: All right, CNN's Maria Ressa reporting on the phone for us from Jakarta -- thank you, Maria.

Well, for its part, the Bush administration says it's still investigating a possible al Qaeda connection to that attack in Jakarta and whether American interests were what was targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a deplorable attack on innocent civilians. And our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and with their families. We fully support President Megawati and her administration in their efforts to fight terror and root out terrorism. And we stand fully prepared to assist in any way possible in bringing those responsible to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Spokesman Scott McClellan spoke in Crawford, Texas. He says the president planned to discuss the gamut of foreign policy issues today when Secretary of State Colin Powell and his top deputy, Richard Armitage, visited Mr. Bush at his ranch.

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