Bali blast caused by three bombs: Police

Tiarma Siboro and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali

The explosion that rocked Bali on Oct. 12 was caused by three bombs, one of them inside a nightclub and two outside another club, Indonesian Police said Sunday.

Meanwhile investigators said although they had questioned 67 people, including two local fisherman and a female survivor, no arrests have been made.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said one of the bombs was placed inside Paddy's Cafe near a disc jockey's booth and two others outside the nearby Sari Club in Kuta district.

"The source of the big blast is a Mitsubishi L-300 van," said Aritonang, who is also spokesman for the joint multi-national team investigating the terrorist attacks.

Previously eyewitnesses had spoken of only two blasts in Kuta, with a car bomb outside the Sari Club causing most of the carnage.

However, Edward said the team had yet to conclude whether the explosives used in the attack near the U.S. consulate general in Renon, Bali, were similar to the attempted grenade attack on a U.S. Embassy warehouse in Jl. Teluk Betung, Central Jakarta, last month.

Aritonang said forensic experts were analyzing a motorcycle, two Indonesian identity cards, a crash helmet and a glove recovered from the blast site.

The joint investigation team also disclosed that they had interviewed three more witnesses, including a Balinese woman who managed to flee the blast scene and is currently undergoing medical treatment in Australia.

"This woman is among survivors of the bombs that exploded at Paddy's Cafe and Sari Club. She has been flown to Australia due to serious injures," Edward said. He refused to elaborate.

Speaking at a joint press briefing led by Aritonang and Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigator Brett Swan, Aritonang said the team had also interviewed two local fishermen due to "their knowledge of explosives".

Asked whether these Balinese fishermen were expert enough to use C4, a plastic explosive, Aritonang simply said: "They (fishermen) are used to dealing with explosives, that's why we are interviewing them."

Last week the police confirmed that C4 was used in the Bali bombing. C4 is a powerful substance mainly manufactured in the United States but widely supplied to military forces around the world. Last Tuesday, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono said the technology and skills employed by the attackers indicated they were from abroad.

Police also denied rumors they had arrested two Pakistanis in a hotel in Nusa Dua on explosives charges.

Last week Bali Police questioned 10 Pakistanis but insisted their questioning was not related to the explosions in Legian, Kuta.

To date, police have interviewed 100 witnesses, including 10 Pakistanis. Previously, the team said they were focusing on four main witnesses, including a security officer and a former Indonesian Air Force officer.

The former Air Force officer, identified as Dedi Masrukhin, was questioned due to suspicions regarding, among other things, his alibi and his expertise in explosives.

Dedi learned his explosives' skills in the U.S. when he was serving in the Air Force. He was discharged from the service last year for drug abuse.

Sources told The Jakarta Post that the police received orders to release Dedi although suspicions of his link to the Bali blasts remain strong.

Meanwhile, Swan said the blast site in Kuta would be opened on Friday afternoon after multinational investigators completed forensic investigation.

Swan said the joint investigators had sent at least 6,000 contact forms to Australians in a bid to expand the investigation.

The forms, once completed by witnesses and their relatives, would serve as additional data for the investigators to enable them to get a more comprehensive picture of the case.

"There will be more and more witnesses as we also plan to interview dozens of injured people who are currently undergoing medical treatment at Sanglah General Hospital here," Swan said.

Aritonang further said investigators had identified another victim in the case, a Japanese identified as Yuka Suzuki.

The number of people confirmed killed in the bombing has risen to 187 with the death of a Balinese woman during a flight to Australia for medical treatment, a doctor told AFP Sunday.

"We have been informed that one of the three wounded women flown to Australia for further medical treatment in Perth has died on the way," said Wiyargita of the Sanglah General Hospital.

Wiyargita said the woman, who suffered extensive burns, had undergone several operations and was in a stable condition when she left for Perth.

Aritonang said 97 people were still missing as of Sunday. It was not clear if this was a definitive list. Australia alone has 73 missing and presumed dead in addition to 30 of its nationals confirmed killed.

Many of the bodies recovered since the Oct. 12 blast and ensuing fire were burned beyond recognition or blown to pieces. The official death toll is believed to be a considerable underestimate.

Forensic experts believe the bodies of some people might have been totally destroyed by the intense heat and say the identification process could take months.

Australians, Britons and Indonesians head the grim list of blast victims believed to be from more than two dozen countries.

By early Sunday only 48 bodies, excluding the latest death, had been identified at the main Sanglah hospital mortuary, Ketut Semarajaya, a member of its forensic team, told AFP.

Semarajaya is among a team of 23 Indonesian doctors working round the clock with 39 doctors from Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Japan and Taiwan to identify the remains of victims.

Australian Federal Police officer Julian Slater said forensic experts were still recovering human remains from the ruins of the Sari Club as of Sunday afternoon but gave no details.

Slater, the coordinator of the victims identification team, urged Indonesian families who have not yet submitted DNA samples to do so as soon as possible.

He said items such as hairbrushes, toothbrush, used razors, lipstick or lipgloss and unwashed clothing belonging to missing people should be submitted to the crisis center.

Last week Slater said it could take months to complete formal identification of all victims and some may never be identified.

Meanwhile, Bali Police were busy Saturday night and Sunday with rumors about more bombings. Early on Sunday morning police destroyed a suspicious package discovered outside a five-star hotel a short distance from the blast site.

Police were called to the Jayakarta Hotel at about midnight to examine the package discovered by garbage collectors about 100 metres from the hotel.

"Our security guards called police who took away the bag and I don't know what happened after that," the hotel's duty manager said as quoted by DPA.

Witnesses say the package was driven down Legian Street to be detonated by the bomb squad. Early analysis suggests it was not a bomb but police have yet to release further information.

The incident occurred as hundreds of mourners gathered at the site of the Sari Club bombing to mark the one-week anniversary of the terrorist strike. The candle-light vigil brought together both locals and foreign tourists, many of whom are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified.

"We were frantic with rumors of the discovery of more bombs, but our investigation has found none," a police officer said as quoted by Antara.

"There were suspicious items, but they turned out to be garbage and batteries, not bombs," a bomb squad officer in Kuta said.