| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bali survivors recount bomb horror
DENPASAR, Indonesia -- Australian victims of last October's Bali bomb attacks have given harrowing recollections of their experiences, describing a devastating scene littered by charred bodies during testimony to an Indonesian court. The accounts were delivered by the first foreign witnesses to appear in the Bali trials during a hearing in the case against Amrozi -- one of three suspects to face trial for the attacks. The October 12 attacks left 202 people dead, most of them tourists, including 88 Australians. Tasmanian Stuart Anstee told the court he was partying with five friends in the Sari Club at the time a huge car bomb ripped through the Kuta Beach nightspot. Three of his friends were killed and the force of the explosion knocked him unconscious for several minutes, Anstee, 24, said Monday. "When I woke up I noticed blood spurting from my neck and my leg and my left arm. I saw many dead bodies inside and outside the Sari Club," Anstee told the court in the Balinese capital, Denpasar. "Australians are angry at the people who committed this crime, angry at the terrorists," he said. Former Australian Rules footballer Jason McCartney showed the court the scars from burns he received in the attack and glared at Amrozi during his testimony. "The ugly visions are still there. I don't know how long it will take for them to go away," McCartney said, adding he was still receiving counseling and had been afraid to return to the Indonesian island. 'White people' targeted
In an earlier session, prosecutors told the same court an Indonesian Muslim militant accused of masterminding the bombing chose the location because it was popular with "white people." Opening the case against Mukhlas or Ali Ghufron -- Amrozi's brother -- prosecutor Putu Indriati said the bombings were part of a plan to wage war on the United States. "It was agreed the place for the bombing would be Bali because many white people went there, including those from America and its allies," Indriati read to the court, Reuters news agency reported. Mukhlas is charged with plotting, organizing and funding the bombings. The 43-year-old Muslim preacher is also accused of being the operations head of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network, though the indictment against Mukhlas made no mention of the group. Jakarta has blamed JI for the Bali blasts and the trial is expected to reveal more details about the inner workings of the group. Prosecutors alleged Mukhlas met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1987 during the Indonesian's three-year stint there fighting Soviet forces. Mukhlas gave more than $30,000 to several suspects to purchase explosives and a minivan that was used in the bombings, prosecution lawyers said. The defendant's lawyer said on Sunday Mukhlas had not admitted to a role in the blasts. If found guilty, he faces the death penalty under newly introduced anti-terror laws. Mukhlas' trial has been adjourned until next week.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
