CHINA CONDEMNS LAST WEEK'S BOMBINGS IN JAKARTA

Beijing, July 22 (ANTARA) - China is strongly opposed to and condemns the bomb attacks on JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta which killed nine people and injured over 50 others on Friday last week.

"The Chinese government strongly condemned and is opposed to any form of terrorism," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said here on Wednesday.

In his reply to ANTARA's question, Qin Gang said the July 17, 2009 terrorist attacks had created a huge impact, loss and damage to property.

He said that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had sent a telegram to his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda expressing condolences with regard to the bomb attacks.

Qin Gang said he was confident the Indonesian government would be able to effectively make efforts to handle the issue well.
"We believe that the Indonesian government would be able to cope with and handle the problem well," Qin Gang said.

On Friday morning, two bomb attacks were launched on JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels, killing nine people and injuring 53 others.

Of the 53 injured victims, 16 were foreigners and 37 Indonesians . Among the 16 injured foreigners, six came from the United States, two from the Netherlands, two from Canada, two from South Korea, one respectively from India, New Zealand and Norway.

Police have identified three dead victims of last Friday's hotel bombings as being of Australian nationality.

"The names of the three Australians are Senger Craig Andrew, McEvoy Garth Rupert John and Verity Nathan John," deputy head of the National Police Headquarters' public relations division, Brigadier General Sulistio Ishak, said on Monday.

The three Australian fatalities brought the number of foreigners killed in the bombings to four. The first known foreign fatality was Timothy David Mackay, a New Zealander.