Police suspect suicide bombers over hotel blasts

Suicide attackers are suspected of carrying out twin bomb attacks on hotels in downtown Jakarta which killed nine people and injured 50, a senior Indonesian politician said today.

Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the parliamentary security commission, said “there are indications of suicide bombs” at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton.

“That is being investigated,” he added.

The Indonesian security minister and police have said a New Zealander was among those killed.

Thirteen other foreigners were among the wounded, including nationals from the United States, Australia, Canada, India, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.

It has been nearly four years since a major terrorist attack in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.