On 12 October 2002, several bombs exploded in the heart of Kuta, Bali’s main backpacker district, killing 202 people, including 152 foreigners.  88 Australians were also killed, making it the second largest single loss of Australian life in peacetime, exceeded only by 2009’s Black Saturday bushfires.

Militant Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility and most of the attack’s perpetrators were eventually captured and convicted.  But others, such as Azahari Husin and Noordin Top evaded capture and launched further attacks in Bali and Jakarta.