Contemporary · Southeast Asia · War
2002
Bali nightclub bombings
October 12, 2002
Two bombs ripped through tourist bars in the Kuta Beach district on Indonesia's holiday island of Bali, killing 202 people, mostly young Australians on holiday. Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility. The attack pulled the global war on terror eastward into the archipelago and permanently reshaped how Australia thought about its near neighborhood.