By Joanne Morrison
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker said on Sunday that the bombings that killed at least 182 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali were "a definite terrorist link" and cautioned that more such assaults can be expected.
"I believe that this is the beginning of a lot more (that) we're going to see, perhaps in the U.S., although we hope not," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Shelby spoke on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" after being briefed by FBI (news - web sites) and CIA officials on the bombings on Saturday at a nightclub strip in Bali packed with young foreigners. Many victims were Australian tourists.
Another bomb went off in the area of the U.S. consulate, but no one was hurt in that blast.
A State Department spokeswoman confirmed on Sunday that an FBI team was en route to Bali. The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta has already warned Americans living in or visiting Indonesia to "examine the necessity of continuing to remain."
"The embassy is currently re-evaluating the extent of its presence in Indonesia," it said, adding that it is still trying to asses the number of American victims in the attacks.
"We continue to advise all Americans to exercise a high level of security awareness, and to keep a low profile," the Embassy warned.
The explosions came on the second anniversary of the bombing of USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, and U.S. officials want to know if there is link between the latest attack, the deadliest since Sept. 11, and the al Qaeda network.
"There's been indications recently that overseas and otherwise that the al Qaeda, which is dispersed now around the world, including some, perhaps, in the U.S., that these are signals for attacks," Shelby said, citing a suspected attack on a French supertanker in the Gulf of Aden last week and the recent killing of a U.S. Marine in Kuwait.
The New York Times on Sunday quoted senior government officials as saying the incidents in Yemen and Kuwait "showed that the terror network had reconstituted itself, with smaller groups prompted to begin new attacks by inflammatory new messages from (al) Qaeda leaders."
U.S. officials told the Times that an audiotaped message that surfaced last week from Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's closest lieutenant, appeared to be an attempt to justify and incite renewed violence against American targets.
The blasts in Bali were the worst attack on civilians in Southeast Asia in many years. President Bush called the bombings "a cowardly act designed to create terror and chaos."
"Terrorists have once again targeted innocents, this time in Indonesia," Bush said in a statement.
