President wants terrorist network rooted out<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik and I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Denpasar<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has called on security
\nauthorities to root out the terrorist network connected with the
\nBali bombings that killed over 190 people and wounded more than
\n300 last October.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that the terrorist ring can be uncovered to its
\nroots, along with its supporters and all those behind it,\" she
\nsaid in a New Year's Eve message broadcast on state television on
\nTuesday night.<\/p>\n
She hailed the police's success in their investigation into
\nthe Bali bombings.<\/p>\n
\"Our security forces have successfully revealed the network's
\nculprits on the basis of preliminary evidence and convincing
\nconfessions,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Megawati made the speech to mark the end of the year 2002 and
\nto ring in the new year at Bali's Kuta beach, close to the blast
\nsites of Paddy's bar and the Sari Club.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Balinese, as well as domestic and foreign
\ntourists attended the festival which was televised nationally and
\nfilled with messages of peace. The event was billed as an effort
\nto prove the once-bustling tourist island was now safe to visit.<\/p>\n
Up until the Oct. 12 bombings that stunned the nation,
\nMegawati's government had played down warnings of terrorist cells
\noperating in Indonesia. Since then it has pushed through
\nemergency antiterror regulations in a move sanctioned by most
\nreligious and political leaders.<\/p>\n
Police investigating the bomb attack currently have 15
\nsuspects under arrest and are tracking down at least 11 others,
\nincluding two Malaysians.<\/p>\n
Investigators have named Imam Samudra as the mastermind of the
\ndeadly blasts and linked his group to the regional Jamaah
\nIslamiyah terror network.<\/p>\n
The bombings have also been linked to the recent blasts in the
\nSouth Sulawesi capital of Makassar on Dec. 5, in which three
\npeople were killed and 11 others injured.<\/p>\n
However, the alleged mastermind of the Makassar attack, Agung
\nAbdul Hamid, remains at large. Police say he fled with at least
\nfour more bombs.<\/p>\n
The police also described another key suspect in the Bali bomb
\nattack, Mukhlas alias Ali Gufron, as the controller of the plot
\nand described him as the operations chief of Jamaah Islamiyah.<\/p>\n
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the terror group's alleged spiritual
\nleader, is being detained at the National Police Headquarters in
\nJakarta. He has been charged with involvement in a string of
\nbombings in 2000.<\/p>\n
Despite the police's success in probing the deadly Bali
\nattack, many ordinary people and analysts have expressed doubts
\nthat suspects like Samudra and his accomplices were the real
\nbrains behind the plot.<\/p>\n
They queried how the suspects managed to assemble such
\npowerful bombs and detonate them without assistance from others
\nwho may have access to high explosives such as RDX that was found
\nat the blast site.<\/p>\n
Samudra, believed to have bomb-making expertise, has only
\nadmitted he used TNT for the bombings, and denied knowledge of
\nRDX. The presence of traces of RDX at the bomb site is still
\nunexplained by investigators.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Attorney General M. A. Rahman said on Wednesday his
\noffice would work at full speed to bring the suspected Bali
\nbombers to court in February as planned.<\/p>\n
\"Because of the importance of these cases ... we are sending
\nfive prosecutors from our head office in Jakarta to help,\" he
\nsaid after meeting Balinese prosecutors and National Police chief
\nGen. Da'i Bachtiar in Denpasar.<\/p>\n
Chief investigator Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika has said
\npolice would begin to hand over at least six case files of the 15
\ndetained suspects to prosecutors by next Monday.<\/p>\n
Amrozi, arrested on Nov. 5 would be the first suspect whose
\ndossier would be handed over to prosecutors on Jan. 6, he said,
\nadding that the rest would be formally submitted after that.<\/p>\n
State prosecutors will then register the case files with court
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
The dossiers of the four prime suspects -- Amrozi, Samudra,
\nMukhlas and Hernianto -- will be submitted separately. The
\nremaining 11 suspects are charges with assisting the four main
\nsuspects and their dossiers will be submitted in two batches.<\/p>\n
The police say the trials will probably begin in February in
\nDenpasar.<\/p>",
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