KUTA (Indonesia): The island of Bali, with miles of beaches and perfect waves, has long been marketed as a premier destination for tourists. Now this surfer’s paradise has a new distinction: the favourite resort island of terrorists. The deadly assault on three restaurants last week was the second time in three years that the otherwise peaceful and isolated island had been targeted by suicide bombers. This time, some locals fear, Bali’s tourism industry may not quickly recover.

More than 200 people have been killed in terrorist attacks on the island, simply for being in a nightclub or a restaurant on a Saturday evening. Most of the victims were foreign tourists. “People come here from all over the world, so the terrorists wanted to show the world their power by bombing Bali twice,” said Nyoman Adi Wiratama, who works in a clothing shop near two nightclubs that were blown up in 2002 and a restaurant that was bombed Oct. 1. Bali has been so successful in promoting itself as a tourist destination that many foreigners don’t realize it is part of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.

The island’s nearly 4 million people are predominantly Hindu. Authorities believe the latest attacks, like the earlier bombings, were carried out by Muslim extremists. On Friday, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on Muslim leaders to condemn suicide bombings as a practice not in line with Islam. “Suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq are perhaps understandable because there is an ‘opponent’ there,” the vice president said, in an apparent reference to US-led forces in both countries. “But here in Indonesia, it makes no sense. Why do they kill their own people, who have done nothing wrong?”

Bali derives about 80% of its revenue from tourism, industry officials say. The island’s economy suffered a serious blow when visitors stopped coming after the nightclub bombings that killed 202 people in Kuta, a beach town with narrow streets full of small shops, restaurants and bars. Tourists gradually returned to Bali and business had almost recovered when terrorists struck again, this time targeting three restaurants.

Some tourism officials worry that the latest attacks will be more damaging to the industry, even though the death toll was much lower. —Dawn/LAT News Service