a lot of emotion right now in the city of jakarta and around the world. people await for word on their loved ones. we continue to cover db our coverage continues on cnn international. breaking news out of jakarta, indonesia, bombings at the rits carlton and the marriott. two explosions five minutes apart at breakfast time. our coverage continues on cnn international. what you're looking at, we're updating breaking news out of jakarta, indonesia, there have been two hotel bombst, both the j.w. marriott hotel in jakarta and ritz-carlton. you're looking at live pictures of the media and of the hotel area. this happened about three hours ago, 7:40 local time. the first explosion occurred at the marriott. five minutes later, another explosion at the rits carlton. we just got off the phone with the spokesperson for the indonesian government. he is telling us that eight people in all have been killed.

that's the latest figures. six from the marriott. two from the ritz-carlton and more than 40 people injured. he said the dead are foreign nationals. he does not have a breakdown of which countries they're from at this moment. we are welcoming our u.s. viewers and our international viewers to cnn international as we continue our coverage of the bombings in jakarta. let's go to our cnn producer, cathie key yawn know outside the marriott hotel. do you have any updated information for us? >> reporter: right now, no, but we did, as i said earlier, we did speak to a local police official here who told us that it looks like the explosion at the marriott hotel came from the basement, most likely just beneath the coffee shop where we could see from outside the marriott, the windows were broken. not exactly shattered because

this hotel was heavily fortified after the 2003 bombing that killed 12 people here. as we mentioned earlier, security at this hotel has been very, very tight. no cars can drive up to the lobby. people walk in are checked, their bags are checked, and the same is true for cars and people entering from the basement. so the question here, now, is really how all this could have happened. colleen? >> we just asked that question to the government spokesperson and he, again, said he's at a loss. he does not know how someone, whether it's a suicide bomber or someone who planted a bomb at these two hotels would have been able to get past security. weren't you surprised when you heard about these two hotels being bombed, especially in light of the fact that terrorist attacks have calmed down in the past couple of years?

>> reporter: that's right, to lean. yes, i was surprised and i'm sure everyone in indonesia is surprised something like this could happen again. it's been almost four years since the last major attack here in indonesia. people know here that there's been a crackdown on the terror network and all the other groups that may be associated with it. hundreds of terrorists have been jailed, convicted. are now being followed and hunted for in indonesia. analysts here say it may be too early to say who's responsible for the most recent attacks, but, of course, the first -- the usual suspect, which everyone thought was weakened by the arrests and the weakening of the leadership. colleen? >> kathy, stand by, we have an

expert on the line. we're going to talk to him right now. we're going to come back to you for updates throughout the morning. let's get perspective from our terror expert who joins me now on the phone from singapore. sir, thank you very much for giving us your time. who do you think was behind these two bombings in jakarta this morning? it looks like we may have lost our expert. we will try to get to him in a little bit. we spoke with an eye witness earlier today. he lives across the street from the ritz-carlton. he was coming back from a walk this morning when he heard the first explosion. let's talk to him about what he saw. >> on the phone joining us right now is an eye witness.

greg, you live across the street from the ritz-carlton, is that correct? >> that's correct. i live across the street and i just come back from a walk. i saw the first bomb went off, and then i -- because i work for a local television station as a chief technical officer, i ran downstairs with my iphone. as i was going downstairs the second bomb went off at the ritz-carlton. i was able to get quite a number of shots and i was able to get inside the restaurant where the actually second bomb went off. i noticed to appears what appears to be a suicide bomber. by the looks of the body. it was a badly mutilated body and the inside of the restaurant has been totally devastated. the bomb is actually blown out on two sides of the building. it's actually gone both directions and totally devastated the restaurant. >> sorry, go ahead. >> there has been a second

bombing at an apartment complex close by which is where the first bomb was which i saw. it's totally devastated an area. you can see where there are massive amounts of windows blown out there as well. i would think in terms of the bombing at the ritz, it was very extensive bombing. when you got inside and the level of damage that was done on both sides of the building. >> you say you saw a badly-mangled body you believe to be the actual suicide bomber. can you tell the nationality of the person? >> i cannot because i saw the body just before it was covered. it was so badly mutilated. you couldn't tell. no honest o all on echtesty, ths covered up. >> how large a restaurant is that? >> sorry? >> how large a restaurant, how many people would have been in

there? or could have been in there? >> the restaurant -- the restaurant literally -- the size of that restaurant would probably hold in excess of probably 100, 150 people. it's a very large restaurant. it's one of the main restaurants in the hotel. given the bomb went off at 7:30, it would be the time when a lot of people would be down there having breakfast at that point in time of the day. it was time to cause the most impact to the people in the restaurant. >> this is the restaurant at the ritz-carlton, yes? >> at the ritz-carlton, itself. now, the second building, i don't know exactly -- it looks like it was on the first or second floor of the other building the bomb went off. i haven't been able to get inside that building. >> i can tell you, greg, our producer on the scene, kathy quiano, who was on the scene of the marriott, believes the bomb

was in the cafe on the ground familiar of the marriott. >> that could have been correct. the back of that building, yes. >> how could a person -- i don't know how -- you live across the ritz. i assume you've eaten in the restaurant. >> i've actually lived at the ritz-carlton for 12 months. it amuses me how that hotel probably has the highest security in the hotel in end ne nearby sha. i just don't know how someone could get in there with a bomb, given the level of security people have to go through. i don't know how the person got the bomb in. >> to get into the hotel, what sort of levels of screening do you have to go through? >> giving the bombing that happened at the marriott previously, you don't actually -- you can't actually drive into the lobby. you've got to come through -- more effectively the back of the building to get into the front of the building. there are major metal barriers,

vehicles are searched, there are armed guards at that checkpoint. once you go up to the lobby, there are metal detectors. your bags are searched before you go through the metal detecters. there is another area where you go into the basement and the vehicles are checked once again before you go into the basement. so i -- that's the sort of level of security there is. you know? so i just don't know how a person would be able to get that bomb in there unless there was level of cooperation. >> no one has taken sbon responsibility for the explosions. the blasts may have been carried out by the terror group. the group has been blamed for several bombings including the 2003 attack on the marriott hotel in jakarta. the 2002 nightclub bombing on the island of bali which killed 220 people. the al qaeda-linked group wants to establish a huge islamic state across southeast asia. bashir is thought to be jemaah

islamiyah's spiritual leader. let's get more perspective, joining me on the line, on the phone from singapore. thank you for joining us. do you believe jemaah islamiyah may have been behind the blasts this morning? >> the only group with the capability is jemaah. i have no doubt j.i. was responsible for the attack. >> was the way this attack was carried out surprising to you, if, indeed, it was jemaah islamiyah in? in the past it seemed like the vehicles were driven up to a nightclub or hotel. in this case from the witnesses we're talking to and our producers on the ground talking to the police, it looks like the bombing happened from within the

buildings. is that surprising to you? >> j.i. has also conducted human-born suicide attacks. that is individuals wearing backpacks or explosives strapped to their body and walking into targets. certainly j.i. -- it has also mounted attacks using individual bombers, high-value targets such as hotels in the past. in fact, j.i. has previously attacked the marriott. that attack produced 150 injured people and 11 people were killed. >> right. exactly. that was back in 2003. today is friday, and it's friday morning. one of our terrorism experts, peter bergen, earlier on "anderson cooper," our u.s. show, had brought up this question. he was wondering, does this have

any significance? i'd like to ask you this question. the fact that today is friday morning, it's a muslim holiday, and the reasoning being that observant muslims would not be in these locations like the cafe of marriott or cafe of a ritz-carlton. does the fact that today is friday carry any significance to you? >> yes, it is very possible. i want to tell you, they will attack whenever they feel is the best moment to destroy a target. they wait for the most opportune moment. on fridays, especially we see less religious muslims going into such public places, especially places where there are restaurants. a lot of food may be served. >> what is the message here? >> the message is really clear.

that j.i. is still a very capable terrorist organization. indonesian leaders must criminalize the j.i. organization and dismantle the propaganda infrastructures. indonesian has done a lot but not sufficient to dismantle the j.i. organization. >> indonesia has done a lot. arrested hundreds of people from this network and many of the leaders. they've cracked down very heavily under this administration. if it is j.i., how do you think they are having this resurgence? how are they able to recruit after a period of silence? >> j.i. has been -- because the j.i., bashir and many idiologs

are -- it is important for them to go not after the organization, itself, but those who raise funds, that publish various books and organizations that support terrorism. >> how can the government do better? you already giving them credit for having done a pretty good job so far, but you're saying they need to do more. what can they do better? how can they infiltrate these cells? >> the government needs to have another approach of targeting the cells that do the attacks, but also the supporting infrastructure that enables more recruits and more systems, go after the operational cells. unless the government target the support infrastructures, i believe that this will continue

to remain a threat in indonesia. >> when you say support infrastructures, are you talking about financing and their ability to get money for weapons? >> we are still seeing that fund-raising is quite public, quite open. we are seeing that there are many -- jakarta and solo that publish literature that radicalize young muslims. we are still seeing there are radical clerics that go and preach violence against the rest and the indonesian government. government needs to act and dismantle those structures. >> our terrorism expert this afternoon, joining me on the line from singapore. thank you very much for your insight. a spokesman for the u.s. national security council tells

cnn that president barack obama is aware of the attacks. he has been informed. u.s. officials are in the fact-finding phase of the incident. the administration has reached out to the u.s. embassy in jakarta trying to find out if there are any american casualties. at this time, white house officials monitoring the situation say they are not aware of anyone claiming sponlts and no official statement will come until they get more information. we're also receiving i reports from people close to the scene of the jakarta bombings. this i-report is from steven who lives across the street from the ritz-carlton. it's the first i-report photo we have received. he said he took this photo a few minutes after the second explosi explosion. see the shattered windows and debris blown on to what looks like a driveway. more i-report images from jill. the jakarta resident took these pictures from her home in the oak wood hotel. she heard an explosion, looked

out her window and saw smoke rising from the area around the j.w. marriott. she said she then heard a second blast from the ritz carl. indonesia is no stranger to these types of bombings. let's have a look at some of the previous attacks. october of 2002, a big one of the resort islands of bali. blasts that crowded nightclubs killed more than 200 people, most foreign tourists. three years later bali was hit again. four explosions rocked popular tourist spot the. 32 people killed and more than 100 wounded. the marriott hotel bombed today was the site of a terrorist attack in 2003. 12 people killed in that incident. southeast asian terror network, islamiyah was blamed for that blast. peter was staying at the marriott when he heard the

blast. we spoke to him a little bit earlier. here's what he had to say. >> what did you see? what did you hear? >> i was in my room on the 17th floor. it was about sometime between 7:30 and 7:45, and i heard a huge explosion. a huge blast. and the building shook. so i went to the window, looked out and on the left hand side as i was looking out of the corner of the building, down at the ground floor, there was a big plume of black smoke rising. >> at that point what did you do? >> in my mind, my instinct was explosion. there was no doubt in my mind about that. so i just took what i had went downstairs, waited for the lift. the lift came. the lift was full. so i then walked down the

stairwell and on to the street. >> where are you now? >> i'm now actually just standing outside the ritz-carlton. >> one eye witness report -- our producer said she thought the blast in the marriott occurred on the ground floor in the cafe. does that seem accurate to you? >> that's what staff was saying as well. i spoke to people who are on the streets working at the time. they were caught -- they said it was in the lobby. one man said that he was having breakfast at the time and, in fact, there were about 20 people

around him but all of those were injured in some shape or form. >> the -- do you have any sense of how many people you saw who were injured or how many people you may have seen injured? >> well, probably from the marriott i guess -- four or five at that immediate stage. >> tell me about the security of the marriott. what was it like going in and out? >> i'm sorry? >> the -- how tough -- how tight was the security at the marriott prior to this incident? you've been staying at the marriott. what security checks did you have to go through to get into the hotel? >> the standard security checks. for the last six or seven months i've been going through jakarta maybe once or twice a month. i would specifically stay in the

j.w. marriott, and the security is the same as every other hotel here in jakarta. the taxis are checked. you know, they -- >> can a car drive up right to the -- can a car drive up right to the entrance of these hotels? >> no. all the hotels have security barriers in front of them, so you can't actually drive right up to the lobby, certainly in the case of the marriott or the ritz-carlt ritz-carlton. >> in the terms of physically entering, are all bags searched? >> yes, yes. i arrived yesterday and i had a laptop bag and a suitcase and both of those were open ed.

you go through an airport-style metal detector or security screen, if you know what i mean. >> were you nervous about traveling to jakarta? >> no. not in the slightest. and, i was ironically staying in the marriott and the history there. it never crossed my mind that it would be -- certainly wasn't a deterrent from me. >> we are now getting a tweet from marriott hotels on twitter. the latest from marriott, they say police responded immediately, sealed off the area, guests at both hotels have been evacuated and have been mo moved to a secure location. that's from the twitter account from the marriott hotels. marriott being one of the hotels targeted. the other hotel was the rits

carlton. earlier i spoke to indonesian presidential spokesman. here's what he had to say to update us on the situation. please bring us up to date on what you know so far. what has happened and the casualty count. >> well, i was at the location just now, at the marriott hotel, and the minister for politics and security and chief intelligence and the police chief were there. have inspectors be -- the area. so far the death toll is six people in marriott hotel where the explosion took place at about 7:45 in the morning. then two people at ritz-carlton. so eight and at least eight people. the number of people in the 40s.

they have been brought to the hospitals around jakarta. but at the moment, now the forensic experts, they are busy collecting the forensic evidence. part of the team that i witnessed inside the area that was bombed. so at the moment we're doing everything we can to find out any evidence that we can collect. >> mr. djalal, do you know where the bombs took place? one of our cnn producers had been talking with some police officers who believed that in the marriott the bomb may have taken -- may have exploded in the basement. do you have any more information? >> no, i don't. and i'm not able to give that detail at the moment. what i can say is that one of the most damaged areas we looked

at where the bodies were -- where the bodies were was in a lounge area in the marriott. in the lobby. so that seems to be the epicenter of the bomb. whether or not it resides in the lounge or a place underneath it remains to be -- >> do you believe this was the work of a suicide bomber? >> we don't know. i mean, of course that is -- i mean, that is what the police are trying to find out. they have only identified the bomb as being a high explosive. the details are too early at the moment. >> so you were at the marriott. you're now at the ritz-carlton, correct? >> i'm at the marriott hotel now, yes. marriott and ritz are across from one another. >> describe to us what you saw when you walked in.

>> it was quite an eerie situation. glasses were broken. the place doesn't really look like the lounge i usually frequent in the hotel. there were -- the bodies i saw, there were some more being collected already. some were still on the floor. yes. hello? >> mr. djalal, as we're speaking with you, i want to tell our viewers we are showing them live pictures outside the area where the marriott and the ritz-carlton hotels are in jakarta. mr. djalal, i want to ask you about security. because we understand that security at these western hotels have been fortified over the years, especially after the bombing of the marriott back in 2003 where vehicles cannot drive up to the front door. people coming in to the lobby

have their bags searched. how could someone be able to plant a bomb in two of these hotels or walk in with a bomb? can you explain that? >> i cannot explain. i mean, that is only for the police to explain. they are yet to determine who did it, how they did it, what kind of explosive and what is the motive? it's too early to say that whether it was a suicide bomber or in the and how many people were involved. what we know, of course, is this is coordinated. the first bomb took place at 7:45 in the marriott and the other bomb took place just minutes after just across the street in ritz-carlton. what we know it is coordinated attacks, but beyond that i think it's for the police to determine. >> the indonesian government has worked very hard to dismantle some of the terrorist networ

networks -- i'm sorry, including islamiyah. no group has come forward taking responsibility for this. what do you know so far? are you looking at them? >> well, we have made significant progress in curving the activities of terrorists. in recent years we've had a number of preventative successes in arresting terrorist cells in some other places just before they were able to launch their attacks. all this news, i mean, there were terrorist cells out there. you could never totally eradicate them. of course, a couple years ago, the most notorious terrorist was

killed in a police operation. we've had a number of very good successes and we haven't had any major attacks since the last bali bomb attack several years ago. so this is a blow -- this is a blow to us, but i don't have any doubt that -- i think, you know, we will be able to uncover and find out the perpetrator. we have been successful in identifying the bali bombers, the marriott bombers and all the other bombers. i think the police will be able to do a good job, again, at this time. >> is this operondi different from in the past? in the past when we covered the bombings in indonesia, usually it had been a vehicle driving up

with a bomb. in this case, it seemed a suicide bomber or bomb had been planted inside a building. does this strike you as a little bit different? >> well, we know the terrorists have always been able to adapt, especially their tactics, operational tactics. from the terrorist attacks in indonesia of recent years -- i think the methods often -- i think we're seeing this in other places around the world as well. so, again, we have yet to determine how exactly they did it. we know they didn't do it by car bomb, of course. i mean -- not the same way they did it at marriott several years ago. i don't have any information on how they did it and whether it was a person who went into the room or whether -- or someone who went into the room and left the bomb then left the building. it's too early at the moment.

the police are just collecting all the information, including some of the cameras that are around. we'll see what emerges there from all these investigations. >> that was dino patti djalal, the presidential spokesperson in indonesia. i spoke to him early. kathy joins us, cnn producer in indones indonesia. she's in front of the marriott. the ritz is five minutes away. kathy, update us on what has happened so far. >> reporter: well, colleen, as we heard from the presidential spokesman, himself, the details here are very, very sketchy. we spoke to a local police official who told us that the bomb that went off at the marriott hotel, which is just right behind me, most likely came from the basement beneath the coffee shop which is on the ground floor.

what we saw from the hotel, on the left side were windows that were broken but not exactly shattered. i must say that this hotel doesn't look as badly damaged as it was in 2003 when it was also bombed by terrorists. is people were killed in that attack. from this attack we're hearing from local media reports and also from the spokesman that both attacks on the marriott and ritz-carlton, nine people were killed and dozens injured. the injured were brought out of the hotels earlier to a nearby hospital and right now people are still trying to find out who this -- the casualties and the wounded are. they've cordoned off the area. no one can go through, and the investigation is starting at this very minute. colleen? >> we want to let out viewers know there is a little bit of a delay when i talk with kathy, there's about a five-second

delay. kathy, i wanted to ask you about security at the hotels. since 2003 security and the bombing at the marriott, there in 2003, security has been stepped up at all of the western hotels. so it begs the question, how could a bomb have been planted or a suicide bomber been able to walk into a hotel like this? explain how good security was at these hotels and how this possibly could have happened? >> reporter: you're right, colleen. a lot of people here are asking how anyone could have brought in a bomb into the hotels. it looks like from what we're seeing here that the bombs exploded from within the hotels. at the ritz-carlton on the second floor in the lobby and at the marriott hotel here on the ground floor. security has been very, very tight in almost all, if not all western hotels here in jakarta

since the bombings in recent years. particularly here at the marriott. it's, you know, virtually fortified. no cars can drive up right in front of the entrance. people have to get off several meters in front of the hotel. they go through security checks, through metal detecters. their bags are checked. the same is true for cars, people coming in from the basement. a lot of people here are saying, how could this could have happened? of course, there are no fool-proof measures that can be in place, but security has been very tight at the marriott, at the ritz and most western hotels here in jakarta. >> kathy, there was also an explosion in the other part of the city. i believe where you are now, the ritz and the marriott, is in the southern part of the city. but there was also a report of a car explosion in the northern part of the city. do you have any details on that?

>> reporter: none so far, colleen. and the police have told us that they are still trying to gather information. they couldn't even confirm it happened. local media reports here, local tv stations said that a car exploded on the toll road on the northward part of the city. they say this is a parked car. reportedly two people were killed in that explosion which happened less than an hour ago. that one hasn't been confirmed by officials here, yet. colleen? >> give us a sense of what's going on behind you at this moment. the bombings happened at 7:40 your time. it's 11:35 a.m. indonesia time. so it happened about four hours ago. what is going on at the scene behind you? is everyone out of the hotel? are all the injured accounted

for? >> reporter: as far as we know everyone has been evacuated from the hotel. from our eye witness reported earlier and security guards we spoke to at the marriott, they said they have evacuated all the injured, all the casualties and everyone in the hotels. the crowd has thinned out in the back. there was a bigger crowd earlier. it's almost friday prayers here. i think people are trying to get ready for that. it's heavily, heavily secured by police. we were just pushed back earlier. the police line was pushed back so people couldn't go very, very close to the hotel, and we've seen police, special forces coming in as well, and we would assume that they were there to -- or they're there to investigate the bombing. colleen? >> kathy, i also want to let you know that marriott has a twitter account and they have been tweeting. we received one of their tweets.

they say police responded immediately, sealed off the area. guests at both hotels, the marriott and the ritz, have been evacuated and removed to a secure location. kathy, have you talked with some of f the guests and asked them where they go now, what are they going to do now? also, do you have any new information about the nationalities of some of the people who may have been killed in these two bombings? >> reporter: we haven't confirmed any of the nationalities of the people who were killed in the blast, but we did speak to one survivor, an indonesian earlier who told our producer that he actually helped four foreigners out of the hotel at the marriott and they were injured. they survived the attack, apparently. he also saw four other people still inside the coffee shop who seem eed to be injured.

and, again, most of these people were brought to several hospitals around the city. so now people are trying to -- officials are trying to track them down and to account for everyone who may have been at the hotels. we are hearing reports that there were foreigners who may have been killed in these recent attacks here in jakarta. colleen? >> kathy, tell us a little bit more about what some of the other guests are saying? are some of them milling around, or are they mostly trying to get away as fast as possible? if you've talked with some of them, tell us what some of them are saying. >> reporter: well, i haven't talked to a guest in particular. our producer has. we have found some of them who have been milling around here. they haven't really gone far. they wanted to know what may have happened to the people left inside the hotel when they evacuated or ran out of the

hotels. they are here and they're waiting. we're not so sure about the other guests. there may be hundreds of them who are in the hotel. we are not sure where they are now. colleen? >> kathy, i'm going to ask you to just hang on for a little bit. we want to go to a soundbite from our terrorism analyst, peter bergen. he talked about how hotels are soft target and an attractive target for terrorists. i want to ask kathy to respond after the sound bite. >> western brand name hotels around the muslim world where al qaeda affiliates have a present have been a consistent target for these groups. going back, you mentioned the 2003 attack on the j.w. marriott hotel in jakarta. there have within a lot of others. an attack on a hotel in karachi in 2002, in jordan, the days inn

in 2005, attack on a hilton in egypt. very recently, anderson, i assume you recall the attack on a marriott hotel in islamabad in pakistan. hotels in the hospitality business, they can't turn themselves into fortresses. they are soft targets. a western-owned hotel, western brand-name hotel is going to attract western tourists, western businessmen, business people, and, of course, they're going to be very attractive targets for those groups. >> no group has accepted a responsibility for these attacks. peter bergen and other experts we talked to are pointing the finger at a group called jemaah islamiyah. kathy, you have covered this terror group extensively. you know a lot about them. tell us what they want and what their message might be if, indeed, they are behind these

bombings? >> reporter: well, jemaah islamiyah had a slip within the network years ago. there's another group who still believes they should be launching major attacks like this one and in recent years. there's another group here, much larger part of the group who believe they can achieve their goals by establishing an islamic state across asia. islamic state through teaching radical islam. that's been happening as well. you have this split that's going on. you also have small groups headed by what many analysts believe is headed by ma lishen fugitives. the number one wantedindonesia recruiting people who work with him.

he's now espousing smaller attacks that may be targeted toward westerners. we must note the recent attacks in bali, even at the australian embassy and marriott here, killed mostly indonesians. that created a backlash for the network. so now analysts -- individuals believe that, you know, people in the network who still believe in launching attacks want to target westerners and try to lessen the number of indonesian victims. many experts here believe that j.i. and those associated with him or may not be or may be working independently, it has been weakened but it only takes a small group of people, small number of people to launch an

attack such as this one this morning in jakarta. colleen? >> we don't know for sure if it is islamiyah behind the attacks. we do know these two bombings were coordinated. we spoke with the government, presidential spokesman. he said that the government will do whatever they can do find out who's behind these attacks. kathy, is there a sense that the government has done enough in cracking down on these terrorist cells? >> reporter: well certainly they've gotten a lot of praise for the work that they've done since the major attacks happened here, particularly after the first bali bombing and the second bali bombing basically realize they do have home-grown terror network here in indonesia that also spans through the region. i think there was a realization here among indonesians they do have this terror network working here in eindonesia and working with other cells that still

exist. so they did get a lot of praise for that, and we have to say that, you know, indonesia didn't go after this problem with just police or action. you know, they keep the cap on emphasizing this is a multi-pronged approach that they're using. they're trying to reach out to the more radical elements within the network. trying to deradicalize them. getting people who may have been part of the network to, you know, come out, help them join the mainstream again. there have been cases like that. there still has to be a lot done here. as i said, police work is continuing. many here believe there has to be more to be done in terms of thinning the group of radicalism here in the country. colleen? >> kathy, we just got new video

in. cell phone video from a security guard that we're going to show. i will describe what we're seeing, kathy, because i don't think you can see it where we are. this is cell phone video taken by a security guard at the time of the bombing. you can see smoke coming out. we're not quite sure if this is at the marriott or the ritz. you can see crowds of people running toward it and running away from the smoke. the marriott and the ritz, it looks like it's the ritz hotel, are only about a five-minute walk from each other. there you see a group of people seeing the smoke and then walking toward it. this security guard who's taking this cell phone video is trying to focus -- it looks like he's running toward the scene as well. you can see the white building there with the smoke coming out of it, i believe that's the ritz hotel in jakarta, and witnesses are saying that they believe

that the bombing happened in the restaurant lounge on the first floor which is actually the floor above the ground floor, at around 7:45 in the morning when presumably a lot of people would be having breakfast at that time. there, again, is the beginning of this video. white smoke coming from the building over a green area that looks like a park with crowds of people running out, and it looks like the camera is trying to focus on the part of the building where the explosion happened. witnesses earlier in the day told us that they believe it happened in the restaurant lounge. in fact, we had spoken with a witness, a person who lives across the street from the ritz and he was coming back from a walk and he said that he had seen this explosion. so, kathy, i know you could not see this video. it looks like the ritz hotel.

it's a white building next to a green park with lots of people in the park running toward -- running toward the building. tell us, again, what you know about what happened at the ritz hotel. >> reporter: well, what we know from the ritz hotel. actually, i've seen pictures of the. i think that is the ritz park and hotel. right in front of it is a green field. we have to explain that you have to go up the ramp and drive up to the lobby, which is basically above ground. that's where the cafe is on the right side of the hotel. so that is the ritz-carlton. we know that -- i've seen pictures of it which were taken right after the explosion. you know, the smoke came out of it. people here who heard and saw the explosion said that they felt the earth shake. there were tremors here. people around the area. it was also rush hour. people were either walking to

work or driving to work. people rushed there very quickly. i think the news about the explosion spread very quickly around the city as well. people calling each other up and sending text messages. we know police also responded to the scene very quickly. then, of course, there were actually two explosions. we find out later on the other one happened at the j.w. marriott right behind the ritz-carlton just across the street. colleen? >> kathy, the witnesses we spoke with said they believe in the ritz-carlton the explosion happened at the airlonga restaurant. have you been there? can you tell us how big this restaurant is and how many people might have been there at around 7:45 in the morning? >> reporter: yes, i've been to this hotel, colleen, several times. it's actually just on the right side of the lobby as you enter. it's not -- it's only a few

meters away from the actual entrance, itself, and it's quite huge. it's quite deep as well. it may accommodate over 100 people. i would say that because it was the morning there and guests would have been there at that time in the morning to have their breakfast and also it wouldn't be unusual here for businessmen, you know, or people to go there to have a breakfast meeting at hotels. that's usual here in jakarta. we would suspect there were quite a number of people at the restaurant when the explosion happened. same thing at the j.w. marriott hotel. colleen? >> right. that's a very upscale business-oriented neighborhood of jakarta. kathy quiano, cnn producer on the ground. thank you very much, katy. hours ago, explosions tore through two luxury hotels in south jakarta, in indonesia,

marriott hotel and nearby ritz-carlton, targets of simultaneous bombing attacks. the indonesian security minister says at least nine people have been killed and 50 injured. we spoke with one guest who was leaving his room at the marriott when the explosion happened. >> i was standing in the j.w. marriott which -- on one of the floors, leaving my room. the building began to shake. there was a boom and the building shook. there was then subsequently two more that i heard. people were taking the stairs. others were taking the elevators which were continuing to work. the staff of the hotel were shoving people out. initially it was just the rumblings of the building. the shocking part was entering the lobby where the glass at the front of the lobby was all blown out and blood was spattered across the floor. the most people were meeting

calmly and the staff weren't shoving people out. there was a lot of obvious confusion. there had been an explosion across the street, essentially, at the hotel across the way. and this is -- unfortunately this is the second time this hotel has been hit because the location of the bombing a few years ago which occurred also in the lobby of the j.w. marriott. >> right, mr. hammer. in fact, this marriott had been attacked back in 2003 and 12 people had died. can you describe the scene right now? are you outside of the hotel? describe what you're seeing? >> sure. at the moment what we saw is the police have come in. you've got also ambulances. they've set up a parameter around it for safety and any further bombs. we've got some fire engines and

folks wondering what's going on. many of the hotel folks like me wondering when we'll be able to get our belongings, more concerned obviously about the safety and health of people who have been injured. >> that was john hammer who was a guest at the marriott hotel which is one of the targets of the bombings. we spoke with him earlier this morning just about an hour after the bombings happened at 7:40 and around 7:45. once again, john hammer, a guest at the marriott hotel. we want to show you, now, some new cnn exclusive video, that cell phone video from a security guard that was near the scene either at the time of the explosion or right after it happened. there's the video. it's a little bit shaky. you can see the smoke coming out of the ritz-carlton hotel. the ritz, again, was the second hotel that was targeted in these

coordinated attacks. you see crowds of people running toward the hotel and several people running away. the camera pans up to the second floor, which from what i understand, i've been told that the ramp to the lobby is on an upper level. some of the witnesses that we've been talking to said that they believe that the bombing at the ritz happened either in or near the restaurant, one of nine restaurants there. it's called the air langa restaurant. apparently it has capacity for about 100 people. this happened at around breakfast time, 7:40, 7:45, when presumably there would have been a lot of people having breakfast or perhaps business meeting. this is an exclusive part of jakarta where there are some upscale hotels. we also have some other new video coming in of people reacting to the bombing. we're going to stay with this.

there we go. people reacting to the bombings as they're getting word of this. the media crews have shown up. again, this is exclusive video. people wondering what's happening. very emotional people there at -- in jakarta. it was only six years ago in august of 2003 when that same marriott was also targeted by terrorists and 12 people died back in 2003. again, this morning, friday morning in indonesia, two hotels attacked. the ritz-carlton and the j.w. marriott. right now, we have a guest who had been staying at the marriott. peter is there at our live location in jakarta. peter, thank you for joining us. it's been a chaotic day to say the least. bring us back a couple of hours.

where were you at the time of the first explosion? explain and describe to us what you saw and what you felt? >> i was in my room on the 17th floor in the j.w. marriott. it was about 7:30, 7:45, and i was about to go downstairs for breakfast. i just heard a huge explosion. and the building shook quite significantly. so i went to the window and looked down. looking down from the 17th floor i could see a large, black plume of smoke rising on the left hand side at ground level as i looked down. so it was pretty clear, pretty evident to me that there was an explosion. what type of explosion or cause of explosion didn't really enter my mind. so i just took a few things with

me and went to the lift. i waited for the lift on the 17th floor and the lift arrived. the lift was full at that state so i went down the stairwell. >> and then, peter, once you went down the stairwell, did you come out into the lobby and then what did you see? >> no. i didn't. i came out in the back of the hotel down on to the street. from where -- from my room before i left looking out the window i could see people running out the front of the hotel. some people were clearly injured at that stage. limping and so on. i went down to street level and the hotel was being evacuated. people were around.

there were some people who were clearly injured at that stage. maybe five or six people that i saw. they had dust-covered clothes. some of their clothes -- some people's clothes were ripped. some people looked quite bad. cuts and, you know, all over the body i guess from flying glass. >> as all of this was happening and it's very clear to you there was an explosion -- you seem like a very calm person. were you calm or were you panicking at that point? >> no, there was no sense of panic. i must say i was going down the stairs as much to find out what had happened, as anything else. which probably sounds a little bit -- at this stage in

retrospe retrospect. that was my frame of mind. then when i got down there, there was a second explosion in the ritz-carlton which is just across the street from the j.w. marriott. i didn't hear that. i just heard one explosion, the explosion that was in the marriott. >> and then once you got out on to the streets, describe the scene, because i imagine it was complete pandemonium with the first explosion happening at your hotel and minutes later you heard the second explosion at the ritz-carlton. describe the scene at that point. >> no, i didn't hear the second explosion. i only heard the explosion in the -- in the marriott. it wasn't quite that chaotic. people just didn't really know what was going on. people at that stage didn't even know where the explosion had

been. there was a confusion whether it was in the marriott or in the ritz-carlton. and, i mean, staff from the marriott were unsure, themselves, in terms of what had gone on. so, you know, all the securi security -- police, medical, fire, and then shortly after that the specialists arrived. army, everything. >> peter puomey, stand by. you're a guest at the marriott hotel. we just want to continue our coverage here on cnn today and bring in my colleague, zain verjee in from london. we're going to have duel coverage from hong kong and london. zain? >> we continue to follow the breaking news o