Jakarta police find unexploded bomb

Timed device could have sent panicked crowds fleeing into path of suicide attacker at Marriott hotel

The JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta after last week's suicide bomb attack. Photograph: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images

A third bomb on a timer was set to go off before suicide bombers blew themselves up at two hotels in Jakarta last week but malfunctioned, police said today.

The device, a laptop filled with explosives and bolts, was found on the 18th floor of the JW Marriott and was supposed to go off first, according to Ketut Untung Yoga of the national police.

The explosion would probably have sent panicked crowds fleeing to the ground floors, where a suicide attacker detonated his explosives pack.

"It is clear that the bomb found inside the hotel was equipped with a timer that shows the time of the [failed] explosion," Untung Yoga said. "It was supposed to explode before the other two."

Last Friday's near-simultaneous explosions at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton killed seven people and wounded more than 50, breaking a nearly four-year lull in terrorist activity in the country. The two bombers, believed to have been associated to the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), also died.

An unknown number of suspects have been picked up in a manhunt that has also targeted Noordin Top, a Malaysian fugitive and alleged mastermind of four bombings in Indonesia.

JI used a combination of stationary, timed explosives and suicide bombers in the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings that killed more than 220 people. The group was also blamed for the first bombing of the Marriott in 2003 and an attack on the Australian embassy in 2004.

JI was thought to have been wiped out after a crackdown that has led to the jailing of hundreds of militants in recent years.

But last Friday's attack showed that militants are still able to strike high-security targets in the heart of the capital, reviving fears that more bombings may follow.

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