Experts doubt Bali suspect's claims<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Some experts expressed skepticism on Thursday over claims by a
\nkey suspect in the Bali bombings that the terrorists had used a
\nhomemade bomb in the attack on the Sari Club, saying the
\ndevastation wrought at the scene looked more like the result of a
\nmanufactured bomb.<\/p>\n
Key suspect Ali Imron showed the police how the terrorists
\nmixed chemicals to build a 1.25 ton bomb that killed over 190
\npeople<\/p>\n
But intelligence analyst Djuanda said the chemicals Ali said
\nwere used for the bomb did not entirely match the initial
\nfindings at the bomb scene.<\/p>\n
Police found various traces of explosive materials, including
\nthose Ali had mentioned. What was missing on the list was C-4,
\nwhich Djuanda believed was the main material used in the attack.<\/p>\n
"It looks more like a manufactured explosive. I'd say it was
\nC-4," he said referring to a plastic explosive that is widely
\nused in the military due to its ease of use and stability.<\/p>\n
In the first days after the attack, intelligence chief A.M.
\nHendropriyono said the explosion was caused by C-4.<\/p>\n
Indonesian police said it was RDX, which is a material used in
\nthe production of C-4, but never confirmed the finding of C-4
\nitself.<\/p>\n
Ali said that they had used 279 grams of RDX but only as a
\ndetonator for the actual bomb.<\/p>\n
That bomb was produced from 900 kilograms of potassium
\nchlorate, a type of fertilizer that is often used to make fish
\nbombs, 75 kilograms of aluminum powder and 150 kilograms of
\nsulfur. They also used 25 kilograms of TNT and 1.5 kilograms of
\npentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN).<\/p>\n
Djuanda said that several bomb experts he had spoken to were
\nalso skeptical about Ali's explanations regarding the bomb. He
\nsaid they questioned the type of bomb that was used in the
\nattack, pointing out that Ali's version did not match the scale
\nof the destruction found at the bomb scene.<\/p>\n
Another bomb expert, this time from the military, who
\nrequested anonymity, also questioned the type of the bomb. He
\ndoubted that Ali had used a homemade bomb, noting that such a
\nbomb would have been very unstable, meaning that it could explode
\neasily.<\/p>\n
"Their bomb would have been very sensitive to vibration,
\ntemperature and light. But wasn't the bomb taken for a ride
\naround Bali?" he asked.<\/p>\n
Ali told the police that they loaded the more than 1.25 ton
\nbomb on a Mitsubishi L-300 van and parked it outside the Sari
\nClub. The explosion left only fragments of the van.<\/p>\n
The expert added that while assembling a bomb was easy, making
\nthe bomb itself was not.<\/p>\n
"Just yesterday we made explosives from 100 grams of potassium
\nand kept them at the wrong temperature. They immediately burned
\nup," he said.<\/p>\n
He further asserted that the bomb used must have been a
\nmanufactured one.<\/p>\n
Although Ali's explanations filled in many of the gaps in the
\ninvestigation, police remain in the dark about the final moments
\nbefore the blast.<\/p>\n
In Bali, a team of international forensic experts finalized
\ntheir work identifying the victims of the blast, leaving behind
\n140 bags of body parts whose owners they could not identify.<\/p>\n
After 150 days of work, 196 victims had been identified said
\nthe head of the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) team, John
\nBird, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Australian nationals accounted for 88 of the victims. The
\nremains of most of the identified victims have been sent home.
\nThe rest were buried or cremated in Bali.<\/p>\n
The body parts in each bag showed on average 10 different DNA
\nreadings but many were overlapping ones between the bags,
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
The Bali administration plans to bury the unidentified remains
\nafter the Australian government signals its approval.<\/p>",
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