Jakarta, July 17 (DPA) Two powerful explosions ripped through the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels Friday morning in the Indonesian capital, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others, police and the security minister said.

Six bodies were found in Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, two in the nearby Ritz-Carlton and another victim died in hospital after the blasts, which took place during the hotels' busy breakfast time, chief security minister Widodo Adisucipto said.

Four foreigners were killed, including the president of the local unit of Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd, Timothy Mackay, a New Zealander, media reports said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the bombings, vowing to hunt and capture the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

'This action was carried out by a terrorist group,' Yudhoyono told a press conference. 'Those who carried out this attack and those who planned it will be arrested and tried according to the law.'

Leading Indonesian lawmaker Theo Sambuaga said the attacks were 'suicide bombings' while international terrorism experts pointed a finger at Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist group affiliated with the Al Qaeda network and blamed for numerous other bombings in Indonesia.

A bomb-disposal squad found and defused an unexploded bomb in a room of the Marriott, while rescue workers removed a head and body parts, including legs, from the Marriott restaurant.

More than 40 people were injured in the blasts and were taken to nearby hospitals, Widodo said.

Television footage showed severely injured victims, including foreigners, being taken out of the Marriott hotel.

Smoke was rising from the hotels, and glass from broken windows and other debris were scattered on the ground.

Jakarta police spokesman Chrysnanda, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, confirmed that the blasts came from 'high-explosive bombs'.

'An investigation is under way by bomb experts,' he said.

The first explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, destroying its facade, and the second blast hit a restaurant in the nearby Marriott a few minutes later.

Lesley and Paul Harbon, Australian guests at the Marriott, said there was no taking the explosion at the hotel for anything other than a bomb.

'It doesn't sound like anything else you've ever heard,' Lesley Harbon said in a telephone interview from the couple's new Jakarta hotel.