US leads world outcry at Jakarta bombings

Australia and the United States led international condemnation of yesterday's deadly bombings at two upmarket hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, which killed at least nine people.
High-explosive bombs tore through the Ritz-Carlton and the nearby JW Marriott in downtown Jakarta at breakfast time, also injuring more than 40 people in the country's bloodiest attacks since 2005.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the blasts, in which at least two of his countrymen were wounded, made him "sick to the stomach".
"Any attack anywhere is an attack on us all," Rudd told reporters. "Any terrorist attack on our friends Indonesia is an attack on our neighbours.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, en route to Asia for talks in India and Thailand, condemned what she called the "senseless" attacks, underlining that the threat of terrorism remains "very real".
"We condemn these senseless acts of violence and stand ready to provide assistance if the Indonesian government requests us to do so," she said.
The European Union also condemned what it called "brutal acts", conveying its condolences to the victims' families, in a statement issued by the bloc's Swedish presidency in Jakarta.
In New Zealand, Prime Minister John Key, who confirmed that a local man was among the dead, said: "Everything I have seen suggests that this is a deliberate attack designed to kill and wound innocent people."
New Zealand embassy staff in Jakarta were contacting the 281 other nationals registered with the foreign ministry as being in Jakarta.