Chapter 1, Page 10

Katie called us early on Sunday morning to tell us that there was a suicide bombing in Central Java, which is about 2 hours from where she is located now.  The SIT program put all of the students on lockdown, so they couldn't leave the hotel until further notice.  She said having to stay in the hotel was making her homesick, but I'm sure all the students were feeling the same way.  Excitment is one thing, fear is certainly another. 

A BBC newspost reported this about the bombing:

"Witnesses said the bomber struck as people were leaving the Bethel Injil Sepuluh church in Keputon, Solo after a Sunday service.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country but is officially a secular state.

Militant Islamist groups have carried out a number of deadly attacks in recent years.

Indonesia's security minister Djoko Suyanto said two people had been killed - one at the church and one who died of their injuries in hospital. It is unclear if the two included the bomber.

"Some of the wounded were treated in two hospitals in Solo, while some of them were allowed to return home," he said.
'Inhuman attack'
One witness, Fani, said she had heard the blast as she was leaving the church.

"Everyone was screaming," she told Metro TV. "I saw fiery sparks and, near the entrance, a man dead on the ground... People around him were splattered with blood."

A hospital official, Bambang Sumarsono, said 20 people had been injured, three seriously, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Earlier, Mr Suyanto told El Shinta radio that nothing could justify the "inhuman" attack.

"It is the task of everybody to overcome this act of terrorism," he said.

He said he had spoken to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had "conveyed his deep condolences for those who are now being treated in hospital".

The identity of the bomber and the motive behind the attack are not yet known.

Solo is the hometown of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, considered to be the spiritual leader of the Islamist militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which has links to al-Qaeda.

JI has been blamed for a string of attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

The group has been significantly weakened by the arrest or killing of many of its key leaders, but lone bombers have continued to carry out attacks. In June this year, Ba'asyir was jailed for 15 years for supporting a militant training camp."

Katie texted me yesterday evening and said she was still on lockdown.  She will be leaving Java in the next few days and going back to the same place she started, which she really liked.  She wasn't too keen on Java from the beginning and this just solidified her feelings.

Keep her and her group in your thoughts that they will remain safe.