Solved case · 2000
The short answer
A car bomb exploded in the basement parking area of the Jakarta Stock Exchange on 13 September 2000, killing employees and drivers and triggering fires and a brief currency devaluation; Jemaah Islamiyah later claimed responsibility, and two men linked to Indonesian special forces were convicted for masterminding the attack.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Jakarta Stock Exchange bombingOn 13 September 2000, a car bomb detonated in the basement of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building in Jakarta, Indonesia. The explosion set off a chain of further explosions as multiple vehicles caught fire in the basement levels. Most of those killed were drivers who had been waiting near their employers' cars; many took shelter inside their vehicles but suffocated as thick black smoke filled the enclosed basement area.
The attack caused significant disruption beyond the immediate casualties. Trading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange was suspended for two days following the bombing, and the Indonesian rupiah experienced a sudden, brief devaluation in the aftermath.
Responsibility for the bombing was later claimed by Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian Islamic extremist group with documented links to al-Qaeda. The group was also linked to other attacks in the region during this period, including a bombing at the Philippine consulate in Jakarta that had occurred approximately a month before the stock exchange attack, and the 2002 Bali bombings.
The investigation into the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing led to convictions distinct from the later Jemaah Islamiyah claim of responsibility. In August 2001, an Indonesian court sentenced two men to 20-year prison terms for masterminding the attack. Both men, Teuku Ismuhadi Jafar and Nuryadin, were members of Kopassus, Indonesia's special forces unit. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Jafar and life imprisonment for Nuryadin. Nuryadin escaped from detention in July 2001 and was subsequently tried and sentenced in absentia by the South Jakarta Court. The court declined to impose the death sentence on Jafar, reasoning that although he had ordered the bombing, he had not personally participated at the scene of the attack in downtown Jakarta.
The case illustrates overlapping claims of responsibility and adjudicated findings: while a militant group publicly claimed the attack, the judicial process that produced convictions centered on individuals connected to the state's special forces apparatus. Whether the convicted individuals acted in connection with Jemaah Islamiyah or independently is unclear.
No timeline entries are attached to this file yet.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Member of Kopassus sentenced to 20 years in prison as an accomplice; escaped detention in July 2001 and was sentenced in absentia by the South Jakarta Court.[3]
Member of Kopassus (Indonesian special forces) sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2001 for ordering/masterminding the bombing; court declined to impose the death penalty as he had not personally participated at the scene.[3]
From the record
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
UNSOLVEDListenSemanggi cloverleaf interchange, Jakarta, Indonesia · 1990s
Indonesian security forces opened fire on unarmed student protesters near the Semanggi cloverleaf interchange in Jakarta in two separate incidents in 1998 and 1999, killing 29 people combined; despite military tribunals for some low-ranking personnel, senior officials were never prosecuted and the case remains formally unresolved.
Credit: Petty Officer 2nd Class Kilho ParkPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenJW Marriott Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia · 2000s
A suicide car bomb detonated outside the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta on 5 August 2003, killing 12 people and injuring 150 in an attack attributed to the al-Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Kuningan District, South Jakarta, near the Australian Embassy · 2000s
A car bomb detonated outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta on 9 September 2004, killing nine people and wounding over 150. Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility; several men were later convicted for their roles in planning and facilitating the attack.
Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania · 2001
On September 11, 2001, four hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda took control of United Airlines Flight 93 en route from Newark to San Francisco, intending to crash it into a federal government building in Washington, D.C. After learning by phone of the day's other attacks, passengers and crew fought back, and the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people aboard.
Credit: nrkbetaCC BY-SA 2.0SourceSOLVEDListenOslo and Utøya, Norway · 2011
On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter, killing 8, then carried out a mass shooting at a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on the island of Utøya, killing 69. He was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention, Norway's maximum sentence.
Credit: Oliver MarkCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenLiaquat National Bagh, Rawalpindi, Pakistan · 2007
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi following a shooting and suicide bombing after a political rally, an attack that also killed 23 other people. A UN inquiry found her security had been fatally insufficient and the crime scene mishandled; two police officers were later convicted, five Taliban-linked suspects were acquitted, and Pervez Musharraf was indicted but declared a fugitive before being separately sentenced in absentia on unrelated treason charges.
