Makassar bomber 'among three killed'<\/p>\n
Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar<\/p>\n
Police here said on Sunday one of the three people killed in last
\nThursday's bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Makassar, South
\nSulawesi, may have been the bomber, and that they were
\ninvestigating two men and searching for two others as possible
\nsuspects.<\/p>\n
One of the bodies found in the fast-food restaurant, a male
\nwith extensive injuries to his body, face and hands, may have
\ndetonated the bomb, according to South Sulawesi Police chief
\nInsp. Gen. Firman Gani.<\/p>\n
He said the police had yet to identify the man, who they
\nbelieve accidentally killed himself with his own device.<\/p>\n
Firman said a forensic examination of the body suggested the
\nman could have been carrying the bomb when it exploded, killing
\nhimself and two others and wounding 11 more.<\/p>\n
This conclusion was based on the physical condition of the
\nbody, with extensive injuries to the front of the body but
\nvirtually unscathed on the back.<\/p>\n
Investigators released on Sunday a composite sketch of the
\nsuspected bomber, saying they were hoping the public could help
\nidentify the man.<\/p>\n
Firman said police were also questioning two men, identified
\nas Muchtar Daeng Lau, alias Muchtar Daeng Sila, 34, and Ilham, as
\npossible suspects.<\/p>\n
Police are also searching for two other possible suspects,
\nidentified as Abdul Haris, an activist with the extremist
\nMakassar Muslim Youth Defenders Front, and Agung Hamid, alias
\nAbdul Hamid, alias Abu Hamid, who is believed to be a member of
\nthe radical group Laskar Jundullah.<\/p>\n
The investigation into the bombings of the McDonald's
\nrestaurant and a car dealership also in Makassar has quickly
\nfocused on Laskar Jundullah, whose leader, Agus Dwikarna, was
\nsentenced earlier this year in the Philippines to 17 years in
\nprison for the possession of C4 plastic explosives.<\/p>\n
Philippine police also accused Agus of being part of Jamaah
\nIslamiyah, a regional terror network suspected of links to al-
\nQaeda.<\/p>\n
Muchtar and Ilham were among 18 people detained by the police
\nfor questioning as witnesses in the bombings. This group also
\nincludes Agung Hamid's two wives, Panca Budi and Ety Suharti, who
\nwere both picked up early on Sunday in separate locations in
\nSouth Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
\"It is true that we are investigating two men -- Muchtar and
\nIlham -- and tracking down two others,\" Firman said in Makassar.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that police had raided the homes of several
\nLaskar Jundullah activists in Makassar and other towns in the
\nprovince as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Firman said the raids complied with \"standard police
\nprocedures\" and were aimed at furthering the investigation.<\/p>\n
He said the raids targeted individuals and not Muslims in
\ngeneral, and urged locals to remain calm.<\/p>\n
Aswar Hasan, secretary-general of the Committee to Uphold
\nIslamic Sharia (KPSI), a parent organization of Laskar Jundullah,
\nand Abraham Samad, a lawyer for the group, warned the police
\nagainst violating human rights in pursuing their investigation.
\nThe pair also denied the involvement of any KPSI members in the
\nbombings.<\/p>\n
The deadly bombing of the McDonald's restaurant, located in
\nthe Ratu Indah shopping mall on Jl. Dr. Ratulangi, took place on
\nThursday at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Three people died in the explosion -- the unidentified man
\nsuspected to be the bomber, 60-year-old Gufron, who was a
\nsecurity guard at the restaurant, and Krisnawati, who was eating
\nat the fast-food outlet.<\/p>\n
Less than two hours after the explosion at the McDonald's, a
\nblast tore through a Makassar car dealership owned by
\nCoordinating Minister of People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, damaging
\nfour cars but causing no injuries.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, a bomb exploded at a small food shop close
\nto the South Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office, about 300 meters from
\nthe car dealership. There were no reports of casualties.<\/p>\n
Kalla successfully brokered a peace deal in December 2001 to
\nend Muslim-Christian fighting in the Central Sulawesi town of
\nPoso, as well as a separate peace accord last February to stop a
\nsectarian conflict in the Maluku islands.<\/p>\n
Sporadic bombings have continued in both regions despite the
\npeace pacts. It remains unclear, however, whether Thursday's
\nexplosions were related to the Poso and Maluku conflicts.<\/p>\n
Last October, a bomb exploded at a Kentucky Fried Chicken
\noutlet in Makassar but no one was injured.<\/p>\n
At the time of that earlier explosion, Makassar was one of
\nseveral cities across Indonesia experiencing angry demonstrations
\nagainst the U.S.-led military strikes on Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Police are attempting to determine whether these latest
\nexplosions in Makassar are linked to the Oct. 12 bombings on the
\nresort island of Bali that killed over 190 people and injured
\nsome 300 others, mostly foreigners.<\/p>\n
However, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the
\nbombs used in Makassar were different from those used in the
\nattack on Bali.<\/p>\n
An employee at a McDonald's outlet in Makassar reportedly was
\nwarned by someone in nearby Bone that the franchise was to be
\ntargeted in a blast. Police have determined who sent the message
\nand are tracing him.<\/p>\n
Several other locations in Makassar received bomb threats on
\nThursday, including the Mas Country Club in the Panakkukang area,
\nthe Victoria International Hotel and the Al-Markaz Al-Islami
\nMosque.<\/p>",
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