Tue, 14 Aug 2001

Atrium plaza bomber Malaysian: KL ministry

JAKARTA (JP): The police were not sure about the nationality of a man allegedly involved in the recent bombing of the Atrium shopping mall in Central Jakarta, but the Malaysian foreign ministry confirmed on Monday that he is a Malaysian citizen.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the 26-year-old man -- known here as "Dodi" -- was identified as Taufik Abdul Halim, who is from the southern state of Johor and is an architecture graduate from a government-run higher-learning institute.

"He is now under the custody of Indonesian authorities and is subjected to Indonesian law. Indonesia has the legal right to take any further action," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying, by the Bernama news agency.

He said Taufik, along with nine others, were part of a group waging a jihad, or Muslim holy war, in Indonesia and were believed to be planning similar activities in Malaysia upon returning home.

It was not clear if the rest of the group are also Malaysians.

"This group is fanatically religious. They went there to wage a jihad and for the government, this is not right according to the law and to Islam," Syed Hamid added as reported by AFP.

Separately, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said that the man, identified earlier only as Dodi might be a Malaysian citizen.

"He always gave conflicting testimonies," Anton told reporters on Monday.

He said that Dodi had earlier confessed that he was a resident of Jl. Kebagusan Kecil, South Jakarta, which turned out to be a fake address.

Dodi, whose left leg was amputated after the blast rocked Atrium Plaza, Senen area, Central Jakarta on Aug. 1, then admitted that he lived with his friends in Bekasi, eastern Jakarta, Anton said.

"So he might be a Malaysian. We will cooperate with Interpol about it," he said.

He took the view that Dodi's activities might be related with the jihad as it was reported by the Malaysian media.

He reiterated that the bombing in the mall might have been related to the blasts in Santa Ana church and the HKBP Batak Protestant Christian Church in East Jakarta.

At least six people were injured when the bomb exploded in the plaza. Three of them, including Dodi, are still being treated at Kramat Jati police hospital.

The Malaysian authorities claimed that Taufik, alias Dodi, was a member of the radical Malaysia Mujahidin Group (KMM), which was alleged to be aiming to topple the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and attack non-Muslims.

The group, which has about 50 members, was believed to be related to the Taliban in Afghanistan or had fought with Mujahidin forces, Malaysian police said. (jun)