After warnings are borne out, US looks for link to al-Qa'ida

President George Bush has condemned the bombing of a Bali nightclub, describing it as a "cowardly act designed to create terror and chaos".

While the US President refrained from blaming al-Qa'ida, American officials were searching for any link with the terror organisation of Osama bin Laden. The blast came three days after the State Department issued a new alert for American interests around the world and identified Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, as a likely new base for al-Qa'ida operatives.

The State Department also issued an advisory asking all US residents and businesses in Indonesia to consider whether their presence there was vital. The United States stopped short of asking Americans to leave the country at once.

Mr Bush instantly used the Bali blast to reinforce his call for a co-ordinated global campaign on terrorism. It came at a time when Washington is increasing pressure for action against Saddam Hussein of Iraq, whom the US has labelled a friend of international terrorism.

"On behalf of the people of the United States, I condemn this heinous act," the President said in a statement. "The world must confront this global menace, terrorism. We must together challenge and defeat the idea that the wanton killing of innocents advances any cause or supports any aspirations. And we must call this despicable act by its rightful name, murder."

Other world leaders joined the President in deploring the attack. Britain offered to send an anti-terrorism unit to Indonesia to help in the investigation. A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister was horrified by the attack. "[Tony Blair] completely and utterly condemns this appalling terrorist act. His sympathies are with the families of the dead and injured," he said.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, also stressed that terrorists were to blame. "There is no question it was a terrorist outrage ... the attack was committed by the most evil and perverted people," he said. "We have offered to send a team of forensic and counter-terrorist specialists ... When I spoke to the Indonesian Foreign Minister he said that that offer was gratefully received by the government."

John Howard, Australia's Prime Minister, called the blast a "national tragedy for Australia". His comments echoed those of Mr Bush on countering terror. "The war against terrorism must go on with unrelenting vigour and with an unconditional commitment because terrorism strikes indiscriminately ... It strikes without pity and it strikes in a way that outrages the civilised world."

In America, the focus was on a possible connection with al-Qa'ida. It also fuelled fears of a new strike by the group on American soil. In recent days, the FBI has issued a notice to police forces across the country warning that intelligence on al-Qa'ida, including the contents of two tape recordings played last week by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television station, suggested more attacks might be coming.

"There is a definite terrorist link here," said Senator Richard Shelby, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We don't know all the facts. Is it directly al-Qa'ida? Is it an affiliated group? I believe this is the beginning of a lot more we're going to see, perhaps in the US," Mr Shelby told ABC Television yesterday.

One tape purported to be the voice of Mr bin Laden, although there was no evidence that it had been recorded recently; the US government remains uncertain whether the al-Qa'ida leader was killed during the assault on Afghanistan and its former Taliban regime a year ago, or whether he survived and remains in hiding.

A second tape appeared to be fresher and carried a message from one of Mr bin Laden's closest lieutenants, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who explicitly warned of new terror attacks and evoked Mr Bush's determination to topple President Saddam as cause for more American deaths. "The campaign against Iraq has an objective that is far beyond Iraq, to reach the Arab and Islamic world," Mr al-Zawahiri said.

In its warning to law enforcement authorities inside America last week, the FBI alluded to this tape. "The statements suggest an attack may have been approved," the alert said, "while the specific timing is left to operatives in the field."

Meanwhile, the Bali bomb is seen as fresh evidence that Indonesia is a new al-Qa'ida base. The US embassy in Jakarta said on its website that the attack "comes on the heels of previous warnings of Americans at risk, and highlights the mounting threat to Americans wherever they are in Indonesia".

America's ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, said that suspicions of al-Qa'ida activity in the country had been mounting in recent weeks. Details already uncovered "would indicate that their presence here, as we've always suspected, is in fact one that we can now more or less confirm".