10 suicide bombers at large: Police

Sari P. Setiogi and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police warned on Saturday of possible further terrorist attacks in the country after the deadly blast outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, saying at least 10 newly recruited suicide bombers remain at large.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said his personnel were doubling efforts to capture Malaysian fugitives Azahari Husin and Noordin Moh. Top, both blamed for masterminding Thursday's carnage that killed at least nine people and wounded more than 180 others.

"They have recruited new squad members in West Java, Central Java and East Java.... We are still facing terrorist threats posed by the group of Dr. Azahari and Noordin Moh. Top," he told a press conference.

Police sources said that at least 10 suicide bombers remain at large and are ready to receive orders from their superiors to carry out new attacks at any time.

"We are now racing against time to capture the masterminds before they take their next step," a high-ranking police detective told The Jakarta Post.

Da'i said the police had no specific information on possible targets. "We can never know when and how they will carry out attacks."

He said the police were beefing up security at offices, embassies, hotels and buildings linked to Western interests.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said he had assigned his officers to guard more than 300 locations across the capital 24 hours a day.

Da'i said the Azahari-led network was most likely the same group that planned an earlier attack in July during the inauguration of an antiterrorist training center in the Central Java capital of Semarang.

He said the planned attack was apparently aborted due to heavy security around the venue.

The ceremony, which coincided with the celebration of the National Police's anniversary, was led by President Megawati Soekarnoputri and attended by Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison.

Police have been searching for Azahari, a British-trained chemical expert, and Noordin Top, for their alleged roles in the 2002 Bali bombings and Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel blast last year.

The police admitted their failure to catch the two most-wanted fugitives at a house rented by the explosive experts on Jl. Raya Enam, RT 004/RW 09, West Cengkareng, West Jakarta, early this month.

Da'i said the police found traces of TNT and sulfur in the rented house.

"That is certainly the type of explosive substances discovered at the crime scene," he said, referring to the blast site at the Australian Embassy.

Australian forensic experts said the car bomb also contained potassium chlorate.

Da'i did not say why the police were unable to capture Azahari and Noordin, whom he said had kept moving from one town to another around Indonesia since the Bali blasts.

Police were close to nabbing the two men at a house they had rented in Bandung, West Java last year, but they managed to evade police.

During Saturday's press conference, the police displayed footage of the embassy explosion captured by two closed circuit television cameras in the area.

It showed a white Daihatsu box van driving past the embassy on the opposite side of the street. It then disappears from view while making a U-turn.

The car later comes back into view in front of the embassy, passing a police truck parked outside the building's gate. A man appears to be sweeping the sidewalk.

The image immediately turns white, the view obscured by flying glass and falling debris.

The police are currently tracing the owner of the box van and attempting to identify the suspected suicide bombers in the car.

Da'i said the police have yet to conclude whether there were two or three suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, outrage and anguish over the Australian Embassy blast was seen on Saturday as funerals were held for several of the victims.

Around 1,500 Muslims from the hard-line group Hizbut Tahrir staged a rally in Central Jakarta to condemn the attack, while at the same time pushing for the implementation of sharia.

Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, spokesman for the group, said his organization was opposed to acts of violence because it was a violations of sharia.