Jakarta, NU Online
General chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) KH Hasyim Muzadi said here on Monday that terrorism was not part of religious teachings.

Hasyim made the remarks following Friday's bombings of two hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta in which nine people were killed and scores of others injured.

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The president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) was of the opinion that religion did not support terrorism acts, saying radical groups including terrorism was once again not the product of any religious activity in the country.

"So, if there have recently been radical groups emerging, they must have been from outside," Hasyim said, adding that religions had never come to Nusantara through violence.

The bombings, which came two minutes apart, ended a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

The blasts at the highrise J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in Jakarta, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw bodies being carried away in police trucks.

The attackers evaded hotel security, smuggling explosives into the Marriott and assembling the bombs in a room on the 18th floor, where an undetonated device was found after the explosions. The bombers had stayed at the hotel for two days and set off the blasts in restaurants at both hotels.

"They had been using the room as their 'command post' since July 15, and today they were supposed to check out," police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.

Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into the Marriott before emergency services arrived and "there were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," he said. "It was terrible."

The attack occurred as the Marriott was hosting a regular meeting of top foreign executives at major companies in Indonesia organized by the consultancy firm CastleAsia, said the group, which is headed by an American.

An Australian think tank, the Strategic Policy Institute, had warned the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah might launch new attacks just a day before Friday's deadly strike. (min)