Bali blast caused by three bombs: Police<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali<\/p>\n
The explosion that rocked Bali on Oct. 12 was caused by three
\nbombs, one of them inside a nightclub and two outside another club,
\nIndonesian Police said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile investigators said although they had questioned 67
\npeople, including two local fisherman and a female survivor, no
\narrests have been made.<\/p>\n
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said one
\nof the bombs was placed inside Paddy's Cafe near a disc jockey's
\nbooth and two others outside the nearby Sari Club in Kuta
\ndistrict.<\/p>\n
\"The source of the big blast is a Mitsubishi L-300 van,\" said
\nAritonang, who is also spokesman for the joint multi-national
\nteam investigating the terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
Previously eyewitnesses had spoken of only two blasts in Kuta,
\nwith a car bomb outside the Sari Club causing most of the
\ncarnage.<\/p>\n
However, Edward said the team had yet to conclude whether the
\nexplosives used in the attack near the U.S. consulate general in
\nRenon, Bali, were similar to the attempted grenade attack on a
\nU.S. Embassy warehouse in Jl. Teluk Betung, Central Jakarta, last
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Aritonang said forensic experts were analyzing a motorcycle,
\ntwo Indonesian identity cards, a crash helmet and a glove
\nrecovered from the blast site.<\/p>\n
The joint investigation team also disclosed that they had
\ninterviewed three more witnesses, including a Balinese woman who
\nmanaged to flee the blast scene and is currently undergoing
\nmedical treatment in Australia.<\/p>\n
\"This woman is among survivors of the bombs that exploded at
\nPaddy's Cafe and Sari Club. She has been flown to Australia due
\nto serious injures,\" Edward said. He refused to elaborate.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a joint press briefing led by Aritonang and
\nAustralian Federal Police (AFP) investigator Brett Swan,
\nAritonang said the team had also interviewed two local fishermen
\ndue to \"their knowledge of explosives\".<\/p>\n
Asked whether these Balinese fishermen were expert enough to
\nuse C4, a plastic explosive, Aritonang simply said: \"They
\n(fishermen) are used to dealing with explosives, that's why we
\nare interviewing them.\"<\/p>\n
Last week the police confirmed that C4 was used in the Bali
\nbombing. C4 is a powerful substance mainly manufactured in the
\nUnited States but widely supplied to military forces around the
\nworld. Last Tuesday, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief
\nA.M. Hendropriyono said the technology and skills employed by the
\nattackers indicated they were from abroad.<\/p>\n
Police also denied rumors they had arrested two Pakistanis in
\na hotel in Nusa Dua on explosives charges.<\/p>\n
Last week Bali Police questioned 10 Pakistanis but insisted
\ntheir questioning was not related to the explosions in Legian,
\nKuta.<\/p>\n
To date, police have interviewed 100 witnesses, including 10
\nPakistanis. Previously, the team said they were focusing on four
\nmain witnesses, including a security officer and a former
\nIndonesian Air Force officer.<\/p>\n
The former Air Force officer, identified as Dedi Masrukhin,
\nwas questioned due to suspicions regarding, among other things,
\nhis alibi and his expertise in explosives.<\/p>\n
Dedi learned his explosives' skills in the U.S. when he was
\nserving in the Air Force. He was discharged from the service last
\nyear for drug abuse.<\/p>\n
Sources told The Jakarta Post that the police received orders
\nto release Dedi although suspicions of his link to the Bali
\nblasts remain strong.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Swan said the blast site in Kuta would be opened on
\nFriday afternoon after multinational investigators completed
\nforensic investigation.<\/p>\n
Swan said the joint investigators had sent at least 6,000
\ncontact forms to Australians in a bid to expand the
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
The forms, once completed by witnesses and their relatives,
\nwould serve as additional data for the investigators to enable
\nthem to get a more comprehensive picture of the case.<\/p>\n
\"There will be more and more witnesses as we also plan to
\ninterview dozens of injured people who are currently undergoing
\nmedical treatment at Sanglah General Hospital here,\" Swan said.<\/p>\n
Aritonang further said investigators had identified another
\nvictim in the case, a Japanese identified as Yuka Suzuki.<\/p>\n
The number of people confirmed killed in the bombing has risen
\nto 187 with the death of a Balinese woman during a flight to
\nAustralia for medical treatment, a doctor told AFP Sunday.<\/p>\n
\"We have been informed that one of the three wounded women
\nflown to Australia for further medical treatment in Perth has
\ndied on the way,\" said Wiyargita of the Sanglah General Hospital.<\/p>\n
Wiyargita said the woman, who suffered extensive burns, had
\nundergone several operations and was in a stable condition when
\nshe left for Perth.<\/p>\n
Aritonang said 97 people were still missing as of Sunday. It
\nwas not clear if this was a definitive list. Australia alone has
\n73 missing and presumed dead in addition to 30 of its nationals
\nconfirmed killed.<\/p>\n
Many of the bodies recovered since the Oct. 12 blast and
\nensuing fire were burned beyond recognition or blown to pieces.
\nThe official death toll is believed to be a considerable
\nunderestimate.<\/p>\n
Forensic experts believe the bodies of some people might have
\nbeen totally destroyed by the intense heat and say the
\nidentification process could take months.<\/p>\n
Australians, Britons and Indonesians head the grim list of
\nblast victims believed to be from more than two dozen countries.<\/p>\n
By early Sunday only 48 bodies, excluding the latest death,
\nhad been identified at the main Sanglah hospital mortuary, Ketut
\nSemarajaya, a member of its forensic team, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Semarajaya is among a team of 23 Indonesian doctors working
\nround the clock with 39 doctors from Australia, Hong Kong,
\nSwitzerland, Sweden, Finland, Japan and Taiwan to identify the
\nremains of victims.<\/p>\n
Australian Federal Police officer Julian Slater said forensic
\nexperts were still recovering human remains from the ruins of the
\nSari Club as of Sunday afternoon but gave no details.<\/p>\n
Slater, the coordinator of the victims identification team,
\nurged Indonesian families who have not yet submitted DNA samples
\nto do so as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
He said items such as hairbrushes, toothbrush, used razors,
\nlipstick or lipgloss and unwashed clothing belonging to missing
\npeople should be submitted to the crisis center.<\/p>\n
Last week Slater said it could take months to complete formal
\nidentification of all victims and some may never be identified.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bali Police were busy Saturday night and Sunday
\nwith rumors about more bombings. Early on Sunday morning police
\ndestroyed a suspicious package discovered outside a five-star
\nhotel a short distance from the blast site.<\/p>\n
Police were called to the Jayakarta Hotel at about midnight to
\nexamine the package discovered by garbage collectors about 100
\nmetres from the hotel.<\/p>\n
\"Our security guards called police who took away the bag and I
\ndon't know what happened after that,\" the hotel's duty manager
\nsaid as quoted by DPA.<\/p>\n
Witnesses say the package was driven down Legian Street to be
\ndetonated by the bomb squad. Early analysis suggests it was not a
\nbomb but police have yet to release further information.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred as hundreds of mourners gathered at the
\nsite of the Sari Club bombing to mark the one-week anniversary of
\nthe terrorist strike. The candle-light vigil brought together
\nboth locals and foreign tourists, many of whom are still waiting
\nfor their loved ones to be identified.<\/p>\n
\"We were frantic with rumors of the discovery of more bombs,
\nbut our investigation has found none,\" a police officer said as
\nquoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
\"There were suspicious items, but they turned out to be
\ngarbage and batteries, not bombs,\" a bomb squad officer in Kuta
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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