why was BALi chosen?

Few of the foreign tourists who have been returning to Bali in their thousands over the past year, would have believed that terrorists would again launch a series of devastating bombing attacks on "the island of the gods".





But if they were aiming to kill as many kaffir or foreign infidels as possible, Indonesian terrorists could not have chosen a better target than Bali.

The lush tropical island is known among radical Indonesian Muslim groups as a playground for foreigners.

Militants who were tried for the 2002 Bali attacks have expressed their disgust at foreigners and disdain for the Indonesians, who are mostly Hindus on the island, who serve them.



Bali, which was still seething from the 2002 attacks, only noticed more travellers returning recently.

But analysts say that in spite of the heightened security, Bali, especially Kuta remains a prime soft target, because the terrorists know that they can get more international attention and media mileage by attacking the resort.

"If the idea is to attack kaffirs as a way of avenging the deaths of Muslims around the world, then Bali has a higher percentage of foreigners than other parts of Indonesia," said terror expert Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group in Jakarta.

And Jimbaran, a small bay on the south of Bali island, which was bombed on Saturday night, was also a well chosen target.

Lined with open air restaurants where diners can order fresh fish as the sun goes down, the area is a very popular dining spot, especially on a Saturday night, with upmarket tourists looking to escape the rowdiness of Kuta.

An Indonesian suicide bomber wandering straight off the footpath into Raja's restaurant in Kuta, or the open air Nyoman cafe on Jimbaran beach, would attract little attention.

Nowhere else in Indonesia is there a combination of a high number of foreigners, plus the open-air café culture, which make such easy targets.

Guarding against such attacks make it almost impossible, unless all these open-air places were closed down or turned into fortresses, security experts told Today.

Terrorists are also moving away from Jakarta because they find it increasingly difficult to achieve the full results of their attack. The tighter security controls, spot checks at the door, and barricades surrounding public spots and restaurants, have reduced the number of places in which a suicide bomber could walk into.

Furthermore, attacks in Jakarta have often resulted in more Muslim Indonesians being killed than foreigners. This often provoked public outrage than sympathy.