Australian PM Prays At Bomb Monument

Kuta (Antara Bali) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard offered a prayer at the Bali Bomb Monument here on Saturday in memory of the victims of the October 12, 2002 explosion.

"I have spoken with several families of the victims who lost their loved ones," the Australian prime minister said during a press conference with newsmen in front of the Bali Bomb Monument.

Gillard also extended her gratitude to Indonesian authorities and the government of Bali province for organizing the commemoration ceremony of the Bali bombing tragedy that claimed 202 lives ten years ago.

"I am really grateful to the Indonesian Government for the ceremony to commemorate the bloody Bali bombing tragedy," said Gillard, who arrived at the bombing site at 9 am, known as "Ground Zero", to lay a wreath at the monument, along with Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika.

Gillard and Pastika offered a prayer in front of the monument and then went to the site of the Sari Club which was destroyed in the bombing.

The attack was the worst terrorist incident in the history of Indonesia, with 202 civilians dead and more than 100 wounded, and was attributed to an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiya.

The attack in Bali's crowded Kuta tourist district began with a suicide bombing inside a tourist bar that funneled panicking victims into the street, exposing the crowd to the full blast of a car bomb parked next to the neighboring Sari club.(*/T007)