EXPLOSIONS in Bali:

Bombs exploded almost simultaneously Saturday in two tourist areas of the Indonesian resort island of Bali, killing at least eight people and wounding 13 others, police and hospital officials said.

The victims included foreign tourists.

The blasts at Jimbaran beach and a bustling outdoor shopping centre in downtown Kuta "were clearly the work of terrorists," police Maj.-Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, a top Indonesian anti-terrorism official, told The Associated Press.

A receptionist at the Graha Asih Hospital close to Jimbaran Bay said at least eight bodies were in the morgue, and doctors were treating at least 13 other people.

"It's a horrible scene," the receptionist, Komang, said.

The blasts came nearly three years to the day that bombings blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, in Kuta.

There's still some discrepancy on the number of victims: I'm watching CNN International right now and they're reporting about two deaths, not eight.

UPDATE. CNNI's chyron is now mentioning 5 explosions, 19 dead, 50 injured, according to hospital officials.

UPDATE II. Sky News is reporting "at least 17 dead".

UPDATE III. Tim Blair is following this continuously.

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