Atrium bombers admit involvement in church blasts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): City Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofyan Jacoeb said
\non Friday, suspects who were arrested in connection with the
\nAtrium Plaza blast have admitted that they were also involved in
\na series of church bombings in the city earlier this year,
\nincluding those on churches on Christmas Eve last year.<\/p>\n
\"From our preliminary questioning, they also admitted to have
\nassembled and planted explosives at churches during Christmas Eve
\nlast year,\" Sofyan told reporters.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the police arrested three more suspects including a
\nMalaysian student, taking the total number of suspects arrested
\nin connection with the bombings to 14.<\/p>\n
Three of them are Malaysians.<\/p>\n
Sofyan said the last Malaysian, who was arrested on Friday in
\nPandeglang, West Java, was identified as Ji'a, an electrical
\ntechnical engineering student at a state-run university in
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
Along with the arrest, police confiscated six 38 Revolvers,
\ntwo FN pistols, several sharp weapons, a manual to assemble bombs
\nand an ample amount of ammunition.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Sofyan announced that 10 people, including a
\nMalaysian was arrested in a village in Pandeglang.<\/p>\n
Police said the groups were using Pandeglang, Banten and
\nTasikmalaya, West Java, as their headquarters.<\/p>\n
\"I'm sorry that the head of the subdistrict in Pandeglang and
\nin Tasikmalaya were not aware of the people's activities,\" Sofjan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Earlier police had detained a Malaysian identified as Danny,
\nwho was injured during the blast in the Atrium Senen Plaza in
\nCentral Jakarta, which occurred on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n
\"From their confession, we concluded that they were
\ncoordinating work in groups hitting certain targets,\" Sofyan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He added that preliminary questioning revealed that the people
\nalso were also involved in the communal clashes on the Maluku
\nislands.<\/p>\n
\"With these arrests, I hope our police detectives will shortly
\nreveal the mastermind behind the bombings,\" Sofyan said.<\/p>\n
Over 70 people were injured when bombs blasted the Santa Anna
\nchurch and the Huriah Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church,
\nboth in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Last year, 19 people were killed in Christmas Eve bombings
\nthat rocked a number of churches in the city. Similar incidents
\nalso took place in several other towns across the country. (emf)<\/p>",
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