Latest Indonesian violence leaves 13 dead in Jakarta

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A car bomb tore through a packed parking garage beneath Jakarta's stock exchange yesterday, killing at least 13 people, injuring 27 and shaking confidence in Indonesia's attempts to reform after decades of corrupt dictatorship.

The blast damaged or destroyed 400 vehicles in the garage filled with cars and drivers waiting for stockbrokers to finish work, said the national police chief.

The 27 injured - many covered in black dust and breathing with difficulty, and others cut by flying glass - were brought to a nearby hospital.

Smoke filled the exchange's trading room and other offices, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 workers.

Firefighters doused the flames and fumbled through the darkness of the three-level parking lot to pull out victims many hours after the blast. Most of the dead suffocated; some were found in the charred remains of their cars.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast, the deadliest in a series of unexplained recent bombings in Indonesia. The bombing was a major blow to efforts by President Abdurrahman Wahid to restore confidence in Indonesia's crisis-ridden economy and end violence across the world's fourth-most populous nation.

In the past, Wahid has complained bitterly that his opponents have used terrorist-like tactics to destabilize his year-old reformist government.