Indonesia marks 2002 Bali bombings anniversary

Hanoi (VNA) – Dozens of mourners on October 12 attended a memorial service for the victims of the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people on the Indonesian resort island in 2002 to mark the 17th anniversary of the attacks.

Grieving families and representatives from several embassies laid flowers and lit candles during the event which took place in the popular tourist hub Kuta, where radical Islamists detonated bombs 17 years ago.

A candlelight vigil was also being held 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 biggest Muslim-majority nation, has long struggled with Islamist militants. Indonesian President Joko Widodo on October 11 ordered beefed-up security measures to help prevent further attacks, following assassination attempt on a local chief security minister by militants from Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Islamic State (IS)-linked extremist group.

Last year, suicide bombers from the JAD detonated explosives in three churches in the country's second largest city Surabaya, killing more than a dozen people./.