Explosions rock two Jakarta hotels; 9 reported dead

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) - Bomb blasts tore through two luxury hotels Friday morning in south Jakarta, Indonesia, killing at least nine people in what the country's president called a "terrorist" attack.

More than 50 people were injured, said Dino Patti Djalal, spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They were taken to area hospitals.

"I condemn this terrorist attack," Yudhoyono said. "I know they will never stop."

One hospital reported that there were 16 foreigners wounded in the blast, according to state-run Antara News Agency. The victims were from the United States, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, India, Australia and Britain.

Police sealed off the area around both hotel blasts, one in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the other at the JW Marriott Hotel about 50 meters away. Djalal said the attacks were coordinated.

Forensics experts were collecting evidence at the "disturbing scene," Djalal said. He said he had few details about the blasts, which occurred at 7:48 a.m. (8:48 p.m. Thursday ET) on Friday, Islam's holy day.

Authorities found an unexploded bomb in a room in the 18th floor of the JW Marriott Hotel, one of the two hotels struck by bombers earlier Friday, a police spokesman said.

"We had to defuse the bomb because it's armed and ready to explode. The bomb is now secure," the spokesman said.

Windows were shattered and plumes of smoke shot up in the air, witnesses said.

"What I can say is one of the most damaged areas that we looked at, where the bodies were, was a lounge area in the Marriott near the lobby," he said. "That seems to be the epicenter of the bomb."

"This is a blow to us, but I don't have any doubts that we will be able to uncover and find out the perpetrators," Djalal said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police said the bomb at the Marriott likely came from the basement beneath the coffee shop on the ground floor, which would have been busy at breakfast time.

In a Twitter post four hours after the blast, Marriott said: "Police responded immediately, sealed off the area. Guests @ both hotels have been evacuated & have been moved to a secure location."

A Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman released a statement saying: "Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims and their families. As always, the safety and security of our guests and associates is a high priority."

At the Ritz, windows were blown out on the second floor, as though the blast occurred from inside a hotel restaurant that also would have been crowded with a breakfast crowd, said witness Greg Woolstencroft.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel was to have accommodated soccer players from Britain's Manchester United, who were expected to arrive in Jakarta on Sunday.

The team canceled its trip to Indonesia after the bombing, its Web site said.

U.S. Embassy Press Attache Paul Belmont told CNN no U.S. casualties have been confirmed and that the embassy was monitoring the situation closely.

The U.S. State Department said several American citizens were among the injured.

"The U.S. extends its sympathy to the victims and families in this tragedy, and to the people and government of Indonesia. The U.S. condemns such senseless acts of violence. We stand ready to provide assistance if asked by the government of Indonesia," a State Department statement said.

"The State Department is working to help American citizens injured in the blasts," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "The attacks reflect the viciousness of violent extremists, and remind us that the threat of terrorism remains very real."

Australian authorities said they had reports of at least two wounded Australians.

We "condemn these barbaric attacks," said a spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Other governments also condemned the attacks.

Hotel guests said the first blast shook the building, and was followed by more.

"The shocking part was entering the lobby, where the glass at the front of the hotel was all blown out and blood was spattered across the floor, but most people were leaving calmly," hotel guest Don Hammer said.

Woolstencroft said he had just walked past the hotels to his nearby apartment when he heard an explosion.

"I looked out my window and I saw a huge cloud of brownish smoke go up," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "I grabbed my iPhone to go downstairs ... and then the second bomb went off at the Ritz-Carlton, so I then ran around to the Ritz-Carlton and I was able to find that there had been a massive bomb that went off in this ... restaurant area and the explosion had blown out both sides of the hotel."

Woolstencroft said he saw a body that "looked like someone who had been a suicide bomber or someone who had been very, very close to the explosion."

There was extensive damage to both buildings and authorities were blocking up the area, he said.

"It's obviously targeted establishments where there are Westerners and expats ... I can only assume it's something to try and send a message," Woolstencroft said.

The chief technology officer for a television station said he had lived at the Ritz for a year before moving to his nearby apartment, and had been impressed by the facility's security.

"I just don't know how someone could get in there with a bomb, given the level of security and screening that people have to go through," he said, citing armed guards at checkpoints and thorough searches of people, bags and vehicles.

The Marriott was the site of a terrorist attack in August 2003 that killed 12 people. In that attack, an explosives-laden vehicle pulled into the lobby and exploded at the height of the lunch hour.

Friday's attack "was not nearly as bad," said John Aglionby, a reporter for the Financial Times who was at the site of both blasts.

Former CNN producer John Towriss, who has spent many years in Jakarta, said the Marriott and Ritz often share employees, and an underground passageway connects the two buildings that sit across the road from each other.

Towriss said the Marriott has beefed up security since the 2003 attacks, making it impossible for people to drive up to the hotel in cars. Both hotels set up metal detectors and thick concrete barriers to prevent car bombers.

"I always thought I was safer at the Marriott because I thought it had already been bombed once," Towriss said. "I thought that another hotel would be targeted."

– CNN's Andy Saputra in Jakarta, Miranda Leitsinger in Hong Kong and Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.