Explosive used in Bali blast contains RDX: Investigators<\/p>\n
I Wayan Juniartha and Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Bali Police chief Brig. Gen. Budi confirmed on Wednesday that
\nthat based on the chemical traces found in and around last week's
\nblast scene in Legian, Kuta tourist resort in Bali, investigators
\nconcluded that the explosive used contained RDX
\n(Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine), and its HBX and nitrate
\nvariants.<\/p>\n
\"We found RDX traces on the huge crater caused by the
\nexplosion in front of the Sari Club. We also found the residue of
\nthat chemical compound on the clothes and bodies of several
\nwitnesses,\" Budi said.<\/p>\n
Thick RDX residue was also found on a wheel axle, supposedly
\nof a minivan type of vehicle, retrieved from the second story of
\na building near the explosion site.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday head of the National Intelligence Agency
\n(BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono announced that the explosive used in the
\nattack was the popularly-known C4 plastic demolition explosive.<\/p>\n
C-4 is a mixture of RDX, other explosives, and plasticizers.<\/p>\n
The C4 plastic explosive used in the Bali bombing is a very
\npowerful substance mainly manufactured in the United States but
\nwidely supplied to military forces around the world, an expert
\nsaid Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Indonesian Army denied reports that it had
\nsupplied the C4 used in the attacks to the terrorists.<\/p>\n
C4 resembles white, uncooked pastry or bread dough, and can be
\nkneaded and molded into any shape in total safety, said Mark
\nRibband, head of a British company that manufactures this
\nexplosive.<\/p>\n
\"You can even shoot bullets in it. It needs a detonator to
\nmake it explode,\" Ribband said as quoted by AFP.<\/p>\n
\"C4 is pretty well used only by the military although there
\nare some small civilian uses for it,\" Ribband told AFP in a phone
\ninterview from Wiltshire, southern England.<\/p>\n
\"It's a standard issue, military plastic explosive based on an
\nexplosive ingredient called RDX, to which a polyisobutene
\nplasticizer is added.\"<\/p>\n
Ribband said C4 was manufactured \"in several countries, but
\nit's primarily U.S.\"<\/p>\n
\"If you see C4 in another country's military inventory, it
\ntends to be because there has been American influence there, like
\nC4 and M-16s means America, and AK-47s and Semtex mean Eastern
\nBloc.\"<\/p>\n
The M-16 is the standard U.S. military assault rifle whose
\nSoviet equivalent is the Kalashnikov, or AK-47. Semtex is a
\npowerful plastic explosive that, in the Soviet era, was made in
\nCzechoslovakia.<\/p>\n
Ribband's company, Ribbands Explosives UK, sells explosives
\nunder a closely-controlled process that requires a government
\nlicense.<\/p>\n
\"C4 is hard to buy,\" he said. \"The best analogy is that it's
\nconsiderably more controlled than heroin, but if you want to buy
\nheroin, you can. Like all things, everything's available for a
\nprice.<\/p>\n
\"For legitimate sales, it's very hard to get hold of if you
\nare not a government, or a user with the correct government
\ncertificate. Within the community of explosives users, it's
\naround, it's something that's used but mainly it's a military
\nexplosive.<\/p>\n
\"If it's been misused, I would suspect that it's been stolen
\nfrom a military force. That's the easiest way to get it, via a
\nfriendly soldier who can, let's say, do a demolition somewhere,
\nwrite off the demolition as 100 kilos (220 pounds) but would only
\nuse 90 kilos (200 pounds). That's the easiest way to steal it.\"<\/p>\n
\"There'd be no question of an al-Qaeda operator turning up at
\na factory and saying, 'here's my money, I'd like to buy some.'
\nThat wouldn't happen.\"<\/p>\n
The Australian Defense Association that the Indonesian Army
\nsupplied the C4 used in the Bali explosive.<\/p>\n
\"The accusations were bizarre, baseless, given that the
\ninvestigation is still going on,\" Army spokesman Brig. Gen.
\nRatyono said as quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
\"You can check our (ammunition) storehouse to see for yourself
\nif we have C4. The Army does not have C4 bombs,\" Ratyono added.<\/p>\n
Executive director of the Australian Defense Association
\nMichael O'Connor said in an interview with Australian media on
\nTuesday that there were certain people in the Army who supplied
\nthe C4 to the terrorist group that was responsible for the
\nattack.<\/p>\n
O'Connor accused the Laskar Jihad Muslim militant group as the
\ngroup that had the possibly received C4 from the Army.<\/p>\n
Laskar Jihad has been accused of links with Jamaah Islamiyah
\nwho is believed to have links with international terrorist group
\nal-Qaeda.<\/p>",
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