JI members behind Bali bombing: Witness<\/p>\n
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali<\/p>\n
A Malaysian national made an incriminating testimony on Wednesday
\nthat pointed to the role of defendant Ali Gufron and other
\nsuspects in the Bali bombings in October last year.<\/p>\n
The witness, Muhammad Nasir bin Abbas, told the Denpasar
\nDistrict Court that five days after the attacks Mukhlas told him
\nthe bombings were the work of him and his younger brothers.<\/p>\n
\"It (the bombings) was all my and my younger brothers' work,\"
\nNasir quoted the defendant as saying.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old witness also said Mukhlas was the chief of
\nMantiqi (region) I, overseeing West Malaysia and Singapore, in
\nthe hierarchy of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network.<\/p>\n
This information was later substantiated by another witness,
\nMustofa, former chief of Mantiqi III.<\/p>\n
Nasir said Mukhlas had admitted his role in the Bali bombings
\nwhen they met each other at the JI six-monthly executive meeting
\nin Tawangmangu, near Surakarta in Central Java. The meeting was
\nattended by all four of the Mantiqi chiefs of the terrorist
\nnetwork.<\/p>\n
Nasir admitted he was the chief of Mantiqi III overseeing
\nSabah, East Kalimantan, Central and Southeast Sulawesi and South
\nPhilippines. He was apprehended in Cileungsi, near Bogor in West
\nJava, on April 3 by the Indonesian police.<\/p>\n
The witness is Mukhlas' brother-in-law. During his stay in
\nMalaysia, Mukhlas married Nasir's younger sister.<\/p>\n
\"I sympathized with his (Mukhlas') predicament, being on the
\nrun and hunted by the police, so I offered him accommodation at
\nmy house in Palu,\" Nasir told the court. Palu is the capital of
\nCentral Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Although confessing that the Bali bombings involved individual
\nJI members, Nasir asserted that as an organization JI had never
\nplanned to launch a terror attack. He said JI was established to
\npropagate Islamic teachings, improve the organization's economic
\ncapability and promote jihad.<\/p>\n
\"But the implementation of jihad in JI was quite different
\nfrom what happened in Bali. The bombing was not on the JI's
\nprogram. However, it is true that JI members carried out the
\nbombing,\" Nasir said.<\/p>\n
Those perpetrators, according to Nasir, were Imam Samudra,
\nAbdul Matin, Ali Imron, Ali Gufron, Abdul Ghoni and Umar. All of
\nthem fought in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation.<\/p>\n
Another incriminating testimony was presented by Idris alias
\nJhoni Hendrawan, who said that the money, which was later used to
\nbuy two motorbikes, the L-300 minivan and to rent rooms at four
\nseparate places, came from Mukhlas.<\/p>\n
\"The defendant also briefed and gave advice to the two would-
\nbe suicide bombers, Iqbal and Jimmy, prior to the bombings.
\nDuring the briefing, the defendant told Iqbal to wear the
\nexplosive vest and go to the Paddy's Pub, while Jimmy should stay
\ninside the minivan,\" Idris said.<\/p>\n
The last witness, Sarjio alias Syawad, who allegedly mixed the
\nexplosive compounds later used in the bombings, expressed his
\ndoubt over the destructive power of his bomb.<\/p>\n
\"It does not make any sense (that it could produce such a
\ndevastating and powerful explosion). I used a similar mixture for
\nthe bomb in the Philippines Embassy in Jakarta but it did not
\ncause such tremendous devastation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
For the embassy operation, Sarjio used a mixture of potassium
\nchlorate, sulfur and aluminum powder, weighing around 300
\nkilograms. He doubled the amount of the mixture for the Bali bomb
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
\"Logically, the effect would be twice the explosion of that at
\nthe embassy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Presiding judge, Tjokorda Suamba, adjourned the trial until
\nJuly 31, when another Malaysian national, Wan Min bin Wan Mat,
\nallegedly the JI treasurer, is expected to give a teleconference
\ntestimony.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ji-members-behind-bali-bombing-witness-1447893297",
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