Six dead in Indonesian hotel blasts

JAKARTA: At least six people including several foreigners were killed and 10 were injured when explosions ripped through two luxury hotels in downtown Jakarta on Friday, police said.

Witnesses said two loud blasts shook the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the nearby JW Marriott in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in the centre of the city around 8:00am (0100 GMT).

Blood was spattered on the street outside the Marriott and police had sealed off the area, an AFP correspondent said.

Windows had been blown out of a second-storey restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, but there was little damage to the Marriott that was visible from outside.

The Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been blamed for a string of bombings on local and Western targets in Indonesia in recent years including the bombings in Bali and the 2003 attack on the Jakarta Marriott.