Australian offers US$1.1m reward to catch Bali bombers
Australian offers US$1.1m reward to catch Bali bombers
Agencies, Canberra
The Australian government on Wednesday offered a reward of up to two million dollars (US$1.1 million) to catch the terrorists responsible for killing dozens of the country's citizens in the Bali bombing.
Attorney-General Daryl Williams said the reward was designed to encourage people to come forward with information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible for the attack.
Williams said investigating authorities were currently focused on identifying victims and collecting and collating a vast quantity of information direct from the crime scene and from witnesses.
He said details of the reward would be discussed with Indonesian authorities.
At least 30 Australians have been officially confirmed dead in the weekend blast and 140 are missing, with the death toll expected to rise significantly.
Separately, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday he was confident the United Nations would support Australia's call to list a militant Southeast Asian Islamic group, suspected of masterminding the Bali bombings, as a terrorist organization.
Australia says it has mounting evidence that al-Qaeda and its alleged Southeast Asia-based affiliate, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), played a role in the massive bomb attack that devastated a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali on last Saturday, killing more than 180 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Howard said his government has asked the United Nations to recognize Jemaah Islamiyah as a terrorist organization. A number of other countries have indicated they would support the proposal, he said.
"I will be staggered if the United Nations refuses to list this (group) as a terrorist organization," Howard told Brisbane radio station 4BC on Wednesday.
Recognizing Jamaah Islamiyah as a terrorist organization would allow Australia and other countries with similar laws to pursue supporters or financial backers of the group, including seizing assets and freezing bank accounts.
Jamaah Islamiyah is believed to have a network throughout Southeast Asia that seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state in the region. Malaysia and Singapore have jailed scores of suspected members accused of plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy and other Western targets in Singapore. The group is also accused of carrying out bombings in the Philippines.
Just a four-hour flight from some Australian cities, Bali is one of the most popular overseas travel destinations for Australians. Of the foreigners killed in the bomb attack, Australians are expected to account for the highest death toll.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence officials intercepted communications in late September signaling a strike on a Western tourist site. Bali was mentioned in the intelligence report, the U.S. newspaper said.
Security analysts said the report would have been passed to Australia by U.S. agencies through close intelligence-sharing ties.
Opposition Labor leader Simon Crean asked Howard in Parliament on Wednesday if the government received the report and why it did not act on it. Senator Bob Brown of the left-wing Greens party has called for a Senate inquiry.
Howard denied there had been specific warnings that Bali could be targeted.
"The intelligence available to the government highlighted the general threat environment (in Indonesia), but at no time was specific about Saturday night's attack in Bali," Howard told Parliament.
Opposition parties want Howard to answer why the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta warned its citizens to stay away from bars and tourist areas in Indonesia, but Canberra's last travel advice in September did not, and even said tourism services on Bali were "operating normally."
Howard said he would ask the Inspector-General of Security, an independent watchdog with powers to investigate Australia's intelligence groups, to report to him on the accusations.