KUTA, Indonesia - A huge car bomb ripped through two bars packed with foreign tourists on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, killing at least 189 people in an attack outraged world leaders condemned as an act of terrorism.

Relief officials in the Bali capital Denpasar said 188 people had died after the huge car bomb destroyed two nightclubs packed with foreign tourists late on Saturday night.

Another person died early Monday while being flown on the first Australian air force flight of wounded from Bali to the northern Australian city of Darwin, Darwin hospital medical superintendent Len Notaras said.

The death toll could rise because search and rescue teams have yet to access an area of the bomb attack site.

Many of the victims were Australians although Indonesians, Britons, Swiss, Germans, Swedes, Americans, Ecuadorans, Italians, South Koreans and South Africans were also among the dead or wounded.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who led condemnation of the "barbaric" attack, dispatched medical teams to help overstretched hospitals on Bali and military planes to bring wounded victims home.

Worst act

A Royal Australian Airforce Hercules C-130 began the evacuation on Sunday night, taking 30 burn patients off the island to Darwin, the nearest major city in Australia.

Australian defence officials said three more planes would evacuate 90 more severely injured foreigners overnight Sunday.

World leaders, including US President George W Bush and Britain's Tony Blair, described the explosion as a terrorist attack while Australia and the United States pointed the finger of suspicion at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Indonesian national police chief Da'I Bachtiar described the blast as "the worst act of terror in Indonesia's history".

The attack comes just weeks after the United States reopened its diplomatic missions in Indonesia following a shutdown over the Sept 11 anniversary caused by fears of new attacks by al-Qaeda.

The blast also follows a wave of al-Qaeda linked attacks over the past week - on US soldiers in Kuwait and a French oil tanker in Yemen - which in turn followed new broadcast threats attributed to al-Qaeda leaders.

Shortly after the blast at 11:00 pm (1500 GMT) Saturday in Kuta, a second bomb exploded near the honorary US consulate on Bali and another blast occurred outside the Philippine consulate in Central Sulawesi province. Neither blasts caused casualties.

There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the attacks.

Foreign tourists

The car bomb here devastated the Padi bar and the Sari Club across the street, which has a garden that was popular with young foreign tourists, and also ripped apart nearby shops and vehicles.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri condemned the attack and expressed sympathy for the victims.

Bali is a particularly popular resort for Australians, and Prime Minister Howard - one of the staunchest supporters of the US-led war on terrorism - urged the nation to be prepared for many deaths. AFP

More on the Bali blasts in malaysiakini 's Foreign News section.