10 suicide bombers at large: Police

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.