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Three Australians killed in Bali suicide blasts

Sunday Oct 2 10:00 AEST

By ninemsn staff and correspondents in Bali

Suicide bombers have been blamed for the string of attacks that ripped through Bali last night killing 25 people, including three Australians, and injuring scores more.

Indonesian anti-terror chief Major General Ansyaad Mbai said the three suicide attackers went into packed restaurants on the resort island last night wearing explosive vests.

The remains of their bodies were found at the scenes, he said.

"I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet," AP reported Maj-Gen. Ansyaad Mbai as saying.

"By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists."

He said two Malaysian fugitives were suspected of masterminding the strikes.

The Malaysian terrorists believed to have built the Bali bombs three years ago, Azahari Husin and Noordin Top, are still on the run.

A 16-year-old from Perth was confirmed dead this morning and officials at Bali's Sanglah Hospital have said a Newcastle woman and a man whose home town was not listed had also died in the blasts.

Five Australians are listed as missing and at least two Australian men were being evacuated to Singapore with serious shrapnel wounds.

Australian witnesses spoke of scenes of carnage, panic and distress at the sites of the attacks and in the hospitals afterwards.

Australian cameraman Sean Mulcahy said the scene at the hospital could "only be described as something out of a war-zone."

"There was blood covering the entire floor... people were being resuscitated on the floor in the waiting room, people with limbs missing... it was utter chaos," he said on Sky News.

Australia believes Jemaah Islamiah - the group blamed for the October 12, 2002 Kuta nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians - is likely responsible for the attacks.

In the latest bombings, the first blast tore through the Raja restaurant in the shopping district of Kuta at 7.30pm local time (9.30pm AEST).

Minutes later, two explosions ripped through a pair of beachfront restaurants 30km away in the picturesque fishing village of Jimbaran.