Bali blast suspect demonstrates how bomb assembled

Bali blast suspect demonstrates how bomb assembled

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

A key suspect in the October attack in Bali demonstrated to
police how the bombs were made from a mixture of chemicals and
explosive materials, and how the bombers planned the attack that
left at least 190 people dead.

In a reconstruction of the crime on Tuesday, suspect Ali Imron
showed how the bombs were assembled and provided details of the
attack.

According to the suspect, the attack did not go entirely as
planned and the final moments before the blasts remain unclear.
One of the two suspects who detonated the bombs is believed to
have died in the explosions and the other is still at large.

Three bombs were used for the attack: one near the American
consulate in Denpasar and the other two at crowded nightclubs
along a tourist strip in Kuta.

The first bomb exploded in Paddy's Cafe on Jl. Legian in Kuta.
Ali said that bomb consisted of six 25-centimeter-long plastic
tubes, each filled with four kilograms of TNT.

The tubes were stuffed into a vest, which must have weighed
about 24 kilograms when the bomber walked into the cafe and
killed eight people, including himself. It remains unclear
whether this was a suicide attack, which is the belief of the
police, or whether the bomb simply went off prematurely.

The biggest blast was the explosion outside the Sari Club,
located across from Paddy's. Here at least 182 people died, many
of them foreign tourists.

Between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, suspects Ali, Abdul Goni, Umar
Patek and Syawad are believed to have assembled the Sari Club
bomb inside a rented house in Denpasar.

The bomb's main ingredients were 900 kilograms of potassium
chlorate, a type of fertilizer that is often used in fish bombs;
75 kilograms of aluminum powder; and 150 kilograms of sulfur.

The chemicals were mixed into a black powder and then placed
inside 48 plastic cabinets. Each cabinet was connected with a
150-meter-long detonator cord. Every 10 centimeters of the cord
contained one gram of the explosive pentaerythritol trinitrat
(PETN). In addition to the cord, the bombers also used 94
detonators containing 279 grams of the explosive material RDX.

As a booster, they used 25 kilograms of TNT, which was put
inside a separate plastic cabinet.

A remote detonator was assembled with three options to
detonate the bomb: either through a cellular phone, a timer set
for 45 minutes or with a switch to detonate the bomb immediately.
Tampering with the remote detonator would also have triggered the
bomb.

Malaysian suspect Asahari, who remains at large, is believed
to have assembled the detonators. The Sari Club bomb was then
loaded into a Mitsubishi L-300 van.

The bomb near the U.S. consulate exploded seconds after the
Sari Club bomb, causing no casualties. Ali said this bomb was
assembled by filling a plastic box, which measured 25 centimeters
in height and 15 centimeters in width, with TNT.

He said the bomb was detonated as planned via a cellular phone
call. However, he could not say who and what detonated the bomb
outside the Sari Club.

Ali was inside the L-300 along with two other suspects who he
identified as Jimmy and Iqbal, as the three moved the bomb into
position outside the Sari Club.

Ali got out of the van before it arrived at the club, and he
returned to the rented house with suspect Idris, who was
following the van on a motorbike.

Jimmy was supposed to detonate the Sari Club bomb via a
cellular phone, but Ali realized too late that he took the
cellular phone with him when he got out of the van.

Ali said the bomb exploded before the 45 minutes on the timer
had elapsed, which meant the bomb had been detonated by someone
who pressed the switch or by someone who tried to open the remote
detonator.

Witnesses said the Mitsubishi van was parked outside the Sari
Club. The 1.25 tons of black powder, 25 kilograms of TNT, 1.5
kilograms of PETN and 279 grams of RDX literally blew the van to
pieces. It also left a five-meter wide and 70-centimeter deep
crater beneath the van.