Bali Attack Comes Amid Signs of Terrorists Regrouping

October 13, 2002
By Susan Page and John Diamond, USA TODAY

The State Department on Sunday night advised Americans living or working in Indonesia to consider leaving as investigators sought those responsible for a nightclub bombing that killed more than 180 people on the island of Bali.

Saturday's bombing occurred on the second anniversary of the al-Qaeda attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors in Yemen. That connection led to speculation that the terrorist network was behind this weekend's attack, which killed at least two Americans and wounded three others.

"The world must confront this global menace, terrorism," President Bush said in a statement. "And, we must call this despicable act by its rightful name, murder." The State Department told non-essential U.S. government personnel and family members to leave.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said he would "not be surprised if we find this incident in Bali was an al-Qaeda attack." Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, receives highly classified briefings, but it was not known whether he had been briefed on the Bali explosion. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country.

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion. The club was filled with foreign tourists. Thirteen Australians were among the dead, and 110 were injured. More than 200 others are unaccounted for.

Administration and congressional officials said that in recent days they have seen worrisome signals - like those that preceded the Sept. 11 attacks - that may indicate another major terrorist strike is looming. An attack on a French oil tanker off Yemen, a shooting that killed a U.S. Marine in Kuwait, and the release of threatening tapes by senior al-Qaeda leaders suggest that al-Qaeda may be regrouping.

And the bombing on the vacation island bore an al-Qaeda hallmark, simultaneous attacks: a car bomb outside the club, another bomb nearby and a third outside a U.S. consular office.

Graham, who is co-chairing a House-Senate inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks, was sharply critical at a USA TODAY-sponsored debate Sunday of the Bush administration's progress in the war on terror. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who also spoke, said U.S. agencies were hampered by "bureaucratic inertia."

The FBI hasn't responded aggressively enough to the "probability" of additional attacks, Graham said. He plans to press FBI Director Robert Mueller on the issue at a hearing Thursday.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to respond to Graham's comments.

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