Atrium bombers admit involvement in church blasts

Atrium bombers admit involvement in church blasts

JAKARTA (JP): City Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofyan Jacoeb said
on Friday, suspects who were arrested in connection with the
Atrium Plaza blast have admitted that they were also involved in
a series of church bombings in the city earlier this year,
including those on churches on Christmas Eve last year.

"From our preliminary questioning, they also admitted to have
assembled and planted explosives at churches during Christmas Eve
last year," Sofyan told reporters.

On Friday, the police arrested three more suspects including a
Malaysian student, taking the total number of suspects arrested
in connection with the bombings to 14.

Three of them are Malaysians.

Sofyan said the last Malaysian, who was arrested on Friday in
Pandeglang, West Java, was identified as Ji'a, an electrical
technical engineering student at a state-run university in
Malaysia.

Along with the arrest, police confiscated six 38 Revolvers,
two FN pistols, several sharp weapons, a manual to assemble bombs
and an ample amount of ammunition.

On Thursday, Sofyan announced that 10 people, including a
Malaysian was arrested in a village in Pandeglang.

Police said the groups were using Pandeglang, Banten and
Tasikmalaya, West Java, as their headquarters.

"I'm sorry that the head of the subdistrict in Pandeglang and
in Tasikmalaya were not aware of the people's activities," Sofjan
said.

Earlier police had detained a Malaysian identified as Danny,
who was injured during the blast in the Atrium Senen Plaza in
Central Jakarta, which occurred on Aug. 2.

"From their confession, we concluded that they were
coordinating work in groups hitting certain targets," Sofyan
said.

He added that preliminary questioning revealed that the people
also were also involved in the communal clashes on the Maluku
islands.

"With these arrests, I hope our police detectives will shortly
reveal the mastermind behind the bombings," Sofyan said.

Over 70 people were injured when bombs blasted the Santa Anna
church and the Huriah Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church,
both in East Jakarta.

Last year, 19 people were killed in Christmas Eve bombings
that rocked a number of churches in the city. Similar incidents
also took place in several other towns across the country. (emf)