WASHINGTON (AFP)--Security at two Marriott (MAR)-owned hotels in
Indonesia targeted in twin bombings was "very tight" and included
measures similar to those used in airports, the Marriott security
chief said Friday.
Alan Orlob, in charge of the worldwide hotel chain's security,
was staying at the company-owned Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta when it
was attacked, along with the city's Marriott hotel on Friday
morning.
He told CNN that the attacks came despite the "very tight"
security procedures in place at the hotels.
"Every vehicle...is inspected. All luggage is inspected with
sophisticated explosive detectors," he said.
"We have walk-through metal detectors at the hotel so nobody can
go into the hotel without being screened with a metal detector.
"It is about like going into an airport. It's that type of tight
security at the hotels," Orlob said.
But despite the procedures in place, the twin attacks that
killed at least nine people and injured dozens appeared to have
been organized from within the Jakarta Marriott hotel.
Investigators said they found an unexploded bomb, as well as
explosive chemicals and bomb-making materials in room 1808 of the
Marriott, which they believe served as a control center for the
attackers.
Orlob was in a room on the 23rd floor at the Ritz-Carlton hotel
when the first of two bombs exploded across the street at the
Jakarta Marriott.
"I looked outside my window... I could see some people start to
run around there," he told CNN.
"I guess there was about two minutes later... a second blast and
I saw a large smoke puff," Orlob said. "I went down to the lobby of
the Ritz-Carlton into the restaurant and I saw where one of the
bombs had been detonated."
Suspicion for the bombings has centered on Jemaah Islamiyah, a
regional militant Islamist group that was responsible for the 2002
Bali attacks and was the target of a crackdown by Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Hospitals in the Indonesian capital were continuing to treat the
wounded Friday as statements condemning the attacks flowed in from
around the world.
Officials have said seven people were killed at the Marriott and
two others at the Ritz-Carlton.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that eight U.S. citizens
were among the wounded.