Amrozi denies attacking RP envoy

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Bali bomb suspect Amrozi denied on Wednesday police charges that he took part in the bombing of the Philippine ambassador's residence in August 2000, but admitted to knowing the people who did it.

Amrozi's lawyer Suyanto said his client told him that he had nothing to do with the bombing that killed two and seriously injured then Philippine ambassador to Indonesia Leonids T Caday.

"I was not involved in the bomb attack on the Philippines' ambassador in Jakarta," said Suyanto, quoting Amrozi after meeting him at his cell at Bali Police Headquarters.

Police have drawn up a list of nine suspects in connection with the bombing, some of whom, like Amrozi, were also tied to the Oct. 12 Bali bombing last year. Amrozi, Suyanto said, urged the police to drop him from the list.

"He (Amrozi) said his friends were indeed involved, his group. But not he," the lawyer said.

His role in the attack was mentioned in the confession of Fathur Rahman Al Ghozi, an Indonesian national who is serving a 12-year jail term in the Philippines for possessing one ton of explosives.

Fathur claimed that he, along with his friend Abdul Djabar, detonated the bomb by remote control.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said the attack on the ambassador was an act of revenge on the Philippine government, which was waging a war on Muslim rebels fighting for independence.

Among the nine suspects, some were also involved in the 2001 Christmas Eve bomb attacks on several churches across the country.

Others were implicated in the bombing of the Atrium shopping mall in Central Jakarta and the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 2000.

Police have blamed the string of bombings on Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist organization that allegedly aimed to establish a Pan-Southeast Asian Islamic state.

Hambali, reportedly the chief of JI, is believed to have masterminded many of these attacks, including the one on the Philippines envoy. He is wanted in Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.