Howard remembers Australia's Bali dead

Australian Prime Minister John Howard attended a solemn commemoration today for victims of the nightclub bombings two years ago on Indonesia’s Bali island, which claimed the lives of 88 Australians.

In his first public engagement since winning a fourth term at weekend elections, the Australian leader called the anniversary “a day of sadness”.

“It’s a day to remember that two years ago terrorism touched Australia in a way that it never has before and we hope never again in the future,” Howard said in the capital, Canberra.

Commemorations in Australia were low-key compared to last year’s first anniversary of the attack that killed 202 people.

Mr Howard lit a candle for the victims after attending a service at St John the Baptist Anglican Church then, with his wife Janette, laid floral wreaths at a granite memorial erected at Parliament House four days after the attack.