Dozens of mourners attend a memorial service for the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings on October 12. (Photo: AFP) Hanoi (VNA) – Dozensof mourners on October 12 attended a memorial service for the victims of the Bali bombingsthat killed more than 200 people on the Indonesian resort island in 2002 tomark the 17thanniversary of the attacks.
Grieving families and representativesfrom several embassies laid flowers and lit candles during the event which tookplace in the popular tourist hub Kuta, where radical Islamists detonated bombs 17 yearsago.
A candlelight vigil was also beingheld to mark the country's deadliest terror attack and remember the 202 victims– mostly foreign holidaymakers from more than 21 countries.
Local militant group Jemaah Islamiyah(JI) was blamed for the bombings, which took place at two popular night spots and the US consulate.
Indonesia, the world's biggestMuslim-majority nation, has long struggled with Islamist militants. Indonesian President Joko Widodo onOctober 11 orderedbeefed-up security measures to help prevent further attacks,following assassination attempt on a local chief security minister by militantsfrom JamaahAnsharut Daulah (JAD), an Islamic State (IS)-linked extremistgroup.
Last year, suicide bombers from the JAD detonated explosives in three churches in the country'ssecond largest city Surabaya, killing more than a dozen people./.
VNA
