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)