3 Bomb Blasts in Bali

Not good;

A SERIES of explosions which rocked Bali tonight killed several people, an Australian witness said from one of the hospitals filled with injured from the blasts.

 

Police tonight locked down central Kuta after at least one explosion ripped through the main square at about 8.15pm and up to four other blasts tore through the popular tourist strip of Jimbaran Bay, which is lined with restaurants and shops.

Bali police chief general Made Mangu Pastika arrived on the scene a short time ago to tour the blast area, centred around Raja's bar and restaurant.

 

Pastika refused to say whether the explosions were the result of another terrorist strike on the popular holiday island, which has only just recovered from deadly blasts in 2002 that killed 202 mostly foreign holidaymakers, including 88 Australians.

 

The sister of convicted of drug smuggler Schapelle Corby told AAP tonight that most of the injured had been taken to Graha Asih Hospital, near Kuta.

 

At least three to four people had died there as she watched, Mercedes Corby said, while between 30 and 40 others had been injured.

 

Police had not confirmed any deaths or injuries tonight.

But the area around the blasts sites had been cordoned off in both Kuta and Jimbaran and witnesses said the blasts had blown out shop windows up to 50 metres away.

 

Authorities said several blast victims were tonight being moved to Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, where the Australian government built a specialist burns unit following the 2002 attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda-linked terror organisation Jemaah Islamiah.

 

Mercedes Corby said the Kuta Hospital was not coping tonight with the injured.