U.S. Warns of Bali Attack

A New Year's Eve terrorist attack may be brewing in Bali, according to the U.S. government. The local U.S. Embassy there emailed U.S. citizens on the resort island, quoting the local governor as saying, "There is an indication of an attack on Bali tonight." The Bali Tourism Board also distributed the warning, and wrote in an email, "While Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts have been ongoing and partly successful, violent elements have demonstrated a willingness and ability to carry out deadly attacks with little or no warning." Indonesian authorities did not release additional details, nor did the governor's office confirm the warning. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, and has had trouble with Islamic militants in recent years. In 2002 a bomb in a Bali nightclub killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists. The bomb was blamed on Islamic militants. Suicide bombings killed seven people and injured 50 at the Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott hotels in Jakarta six months ago.