Ring of steel as paradise island marks anniversary of carnage

A total of 202 people from 21 nations, including 28 Britons, were killed on October 12, 2002 when the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group launched terror attacks on two Bali nightspots packed with tourists.

Among the dead were Keighley ex-pat David Kent, 41, managing director for Hayward Filtration in its Singapore Office, who was touring in Bali with the Singapore Cricket Club’s rugby team, and Sheffield cousins Natalie Perkins, 20, and Laura France, 18, who were just six weeks into their round-the-world trip of a lifetime when they decided to extend their stay in Bali and were killed at the Sari Club, in Kuta.

Threats of a repeat attack on the 10th anniversary prompted a high security presence at yesterday’s ceremony in Bali, which was attended by Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, as well as Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and former premier
John Howard.

More than 2,000 police and 
military, including snipers, guarded the service after intelligence 
of a terrorist threat to the ceremony.

A row of photographs of the victims was displayed and each name was read, while candles were lit to represent each of the nations that lost people.

Ms Gillard spoke of the “searing pain and grief” caused by the attacks.

Yorkshire-born plastic surgeon Fiona Wood, who led a team of Australian doctors that treated victims horribly burned in the attack, told of the survivors’ bravery.

“A young woman whose injuries were beyond comprehension. The first thing she said when she came out of her coma was, ‘I’ll never run; will I walk again?’ I said, ‘You will walk, you will run, you will race.’

“And in 2008, she beat me in an Ironman.”

Memorial services were also held across Australia and a closed ceremony was held in London where more than 100 relatives and friends of British victims marked the anniversary.

Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire said the bombings had left an “indelible mark” on Britain’s national memory.

Mr Swire joined relatives and friends of the Britons who lost their lives, and laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims, at St James’s Park.

“The cold, calculated and cruel nature of the attack, targeting primarily young innocent travellers, has left an indelible mark on our national memory,” he said.

“I am reminded of it as I pass this memorial each morning on my way into the office.

“The bombers hoped to spread terror – and indeed they did. But the legacy of those crimes is not terror. The legacy is the stories of bravery about those who compromised their own safety to help rescue the injured.

“It is the solidarity of people and governments all around the world – of different races, religions and political beliefs – who deplored the attacks and all they stood for, and who mark this sombre anniversary today.

“The legacy is the bereavement left behind by the 202 men and women whose lives were cut tragically short and the relentless work done by their loved ones to commemorate them.”

In a statement, Prime Minister David Cameron said of the victims: “As the London memorial states, they were robbed of life, but their spirit enriches ours.

“Our thoughts remain with their families on this tragic anniversary.”