Australian PM honours victims on 22nd anniversary of Bali bombings

Canberra, Oct 12 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU):- Australia’s Prime Minister has paid tribute to those who were killed and injured in the Bali bombings on the 22nd anniversary of the attack.

Anthony Albanese on Saturday said that the terror attack on the Indonesian island of Bali in which 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians, were killed struck at joy and friendship without mercy or pity, Xinhua news agency reported.

“We think of everyone — Australian, Indonesian and others from across the world — who never saw home again. We think of everyone who still carries the loss, emotional and physical,” he said in a statement posted on social media.

“Over the years grief does not fade. So many hearts are still tethered to that cruel night, every beat tempered by an abiding sorrow.”

Two bombs were detonated in the popular tourist centre of Kuta Beach at approximately 11 p.m. local time on October 12, 2002, with a third detonated near the US consulate in Denpasar.

In addition to the 202 dead, over 200 were injured. It remains the single largest loss of Australian life in a terror attack and the largest loss of Australian life since World War II.

Several victims of the bombings were flown to the Australian cities of Perth and Darwin for treatment, and in 2003 almost 200 Australians received special honours for their actions following the attack.

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