Confusion reigns over probe into Tentena bombings<\/p>\n
Ruslan Sangadji and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post\/Poso\/Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
A terrorist suspect detained in Yogyakarta has admitted to having
\nassembled the bomb that killed 21 people in the Central Sulawesi
\ntown of Tentena last Saturday, Yogyakarta Police say.<\/p>\n
However, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has his own
\nleads, saying investigators suspected that the explosives had
\nbeen assembled by an inmate in a Poso prison.<\/p>\n
Police, Da'i said, found evidence that the bombs were linked
\nto a local government official, who was accused of the alleged
\nmisuse of state funds allocated for people displaced by sectarian
\nconflict in Poso in 2000.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta Police said that based on the confession of a
\nterror suspect, Syaifullah, who is blamed for a blast outside at
\nthe main post office and the attempted bombing of Kauman Mosque
\nin Yogyakarta on Jan. 27, the police were now hunting five
\nsuspects allegedly recruited by Syaifullah, who were still on the
\nloose in Poso.<\/p>\n
\"Syaifullah mentioned his recruits, who we are identifying by
\ntheir initials as JM, JR, SD, SY and M. We have passed on this
\ninformation to the Central Sulawesi Police,\" Yogyakarta Police
\nchief Brig. Gen. Bambang Aris Sampurno said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Syaifullah also told the Yogyakarta police he had assembled 48
\nmore bombs between 2001 and 2002 while he was in Poso regency,
\nwhere Tentena is located. He said the remaining bombs had been
\nhanded to a colleague in Pandajaya village in Poso he identified
\nas Ahmad Yani, who had been arrested before the Tentena blasts.<\/p>\n
Central Sulawesi Police arrested Syaifullah recently, catching
\nhim after he had been on the run for months.<\/p>\n
Police said Syaifullah, who claimed to be a member of the
\noutlawed Indonesian Islamic State (NII) organization, had also
\nbuilt up a network of terrorists in Poso. The 35-year-old had
\nundergone training with Moro Muslim rebels in the southern
\nPhilippines, they said.<\/p>\n
\"All this information was revealed after the interrogation of
\nSyaifullah and his colleagues Suhadi and Taufik,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
Syaifullah refused to talk to the press, saying the police had
\nnot provided him with lawyers.<\/p>\n
The naming of several local government officials as suspects
\nin the Tentena bombings has sparked speculation that the blasts
\nwere planned to divert public attention from a corruption case.<\/p>\n
Da'i said the police had discovered bomb materials, such as
\ntubes and iron pieces, in Poso prison.<\/p>\n
\"We're conducting forensic tests on the materials to see if
\nthey match the bombs that went off in Tentena,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Police had also found residues of bomb materials on prison
\nwarden Hasman's body and similar materials in the car of former
\nsocial affairs official Abdul Kadir Sidik.<\/p>\n
\"However, we'll only be able to confirm such connections and
\nthe motive for the attack after we manage to arrest AT and E,\"
\nsaid Da'i, referring to two suspects who are still at large.<\/p>\n
Antara reported that dozens of police officers had staked out
\nan unidentified island in the Togean chain, where AT and E are
\nbelieved to be hiding.<\/p>\n
So far, the police have arrested a total of 20 people in
\nconnection with the bombings, including Abdul Kadir and Hasman.<\/p>\n
Abdul Kadir has accused the police of planting evidence, the
\nresidues of bomb-making materials, in his car.<\/p>",
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