World Condemns Bali Bombings and Calls for Justice

SYDNEY - World leaders offered support to Indonesia on Sunday and called for swift justice, a day after coordinated bombings killed as many as 26 people and wounded 122 on the holiday island of Bali.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, angered by the death of a 16-year-old boy from his country and the wounding of more than a dozen other Australians, called the blasts an attack on democracy and pledged assistance alongside Singapore and other regional neighbors.

"It is clear also, of course, that terrorists target Westerners, including Australians -- but we should not diminish the significance of democratic Indonesia, modern, Islamic Indonesia, as a target," Howard told a news conference.

No evidence has emerged of who was behind Saturday's blasts in crowded restaurants. Indonesian police said they were carried out by suicide bombers, a calling card of Muslim extremists.

Comments from world leaders showed they assumed it was the work of a militant Islamic group.

"There's nothing the terrorists want more than to destabilize Indonesia and what Indonesia represents as a moderate Islamic country and bulwark against the perverted, obscene version of Islam which is represented by these terrorist attacks," Howard said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose country has provided assistance to Indonesia in its fight against Muslim guerrillas, issued a statement saying: "We will continue to work together in our common fight against terror."

Security experts said the strikes bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a network seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda and blamed by Indonesia for a number of attacks including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has wrestled with high-profile attacks by Chechen rebels, offered condolences.

"The latest blasts are yet another cruel testimony to the fact that international terrorism is a threat to all the international community, which should show zero tolerance to it and undertake every step to uproot it," he said.

Ramadan Alert

While the majority of victims were Indonesians, Howard said they also included South Koreans, Japanese and possibly Germans.

The U.S. embassy in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta warned Americans that they and their interests could be targets of attacks throughout Indonesia, especially during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start this week.

Spain, Germany and the European Union offered support to Indonesia, condemned the bombings and called for international resolve in the face of terrorism.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country is the current EU president, expressed solidarity and offered full support to the Indonesian security forces.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose citizens were praised for their calm in the wake of bombings on London trains and buses this summer, said Britain would "help in any way we can".

"I applaud the Indonesian government's determination to defeat the terrorists and I offer our full support to the people of Bali as they recover from another atrocity so soon after the 2002 attack," Blair said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the bombings and urged the Indonesian authorities to act promptly in identifying and bringing the perpetrators to justice, a spokesman said.

"He is dismayed that Bali has yet again been the scene of terrorist outrage almost three years after the attacks of October 2002," the spokesman added.

Howard said C-130 military transport planes would leave Australia for Bali on Sunday to help evacuate Australians and any others who needed assistance. Emergency medical teams were also being assembled.

Japan said it had no immediate plans to evacuate its nationals or to send emergency teams. One Japanese was among the dead and four others were injured.

The Australian carrier Qantas said it would send two planes to Bali carrying medical and security staff, aid workers and foreign ministry officials.

A Singapore Airlines spokesman said its flights to and from Bali were continuing as scheduled and that it had seen no substantial cancellations.

Howard sympathized with Bali over potential losses from canceled tourist bookings and noted that Australia had helped upgrade facilities at Bali's hospital after the 2002 bombings.

"Those upgraded facilities have been put, sadly, to very good use overnight," he said.