ONE person has died and 13 others were injured in an explosion outside an entertainment outlet on Jalan Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur early this morning.
Local media outlet Berita Harian Malaysia stated that police had confirmed Singaporean, Thai, and Chinese tourists among the injured.
The 04.00 incident happened when one of two explosives was thrown from the second floor of the Sun Complex, but the second failed to explode and was detonated by a bomb disposal squad, according to a New Straits Times.
A report in The Star cited gangland fighting as the cause behind the blast.
The Criminal Investigation Department’s chief assistant commissioner, Khairi Ahrasa, was quoted as saying that gangsters could have been behind the explosion, believed to be from grenades, and that police are investigating the case.
Inbound tour operators agree it is still too early to gauge the impact on arrivals but differ in their predictions of how arrivals will be impacted.
Yap Sook Ling, managing director of Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, believes the explosion will not affect inbound arrivals as the attack was not targeted at tourists and it was also not terrorism-related. Tours within Kuala Lumpur for the company are proceeding as normal.
However, Manfred Kurz, managing director at Diethelm Travel Malaysia, said the impact felt on year-end arrivals will be determined largely by how much coverage this incident receives from the foreign media.
Adam Kamal, Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association deputy president 2, said: “My hope is that the police will quickly wrap up their investigation and ascertain whether it is part of a terrorist attack or gang activity. The impact on arrivals would largely be determined by the outcome of the investigation. There will be an effect but luckily this did not occur during the peak season which begins towards the end of this month.”
