Bali blast suspects named in RP envoy's residence attack

Damar Harsanto and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A preliminary investigation has provided police with the names of nine suspects in the Aug. 1, 2000 fatal blast at the Philippine ambassador's residence, which claimed the lives of two people and injured 20 others.

The police also discovered that several of the suspects were also allegedly involved in the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali blasts that killed at least 202 people and injured more than 325 others.

National Police chief spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said that the bombing was an act of revenge over the Philippine government's attack on Muslim separatist groups in the southern Philippines.

"The nine suspects include several of the Bali bomb blast suspects," he said, adding that Hambali, Amrozi, Mubarok and Dulmatin, who are still at large, were among the suspects in the Bali blasts.

He said that several of the suspects were also allegedly involved in a series of bombings, including the 2001 Christmas Eve blasts and those at the Atrium shopping mall and Jakarta Stock Exchange building.

Prasetya said the police would conduct another investigation into the blasts to bring all the suspects to justice.

Gen. Comr. Erwin Mappaseng, the chief of detectives at the National Police Headquarters, said the police conducted the preliminary investigation after Abdul Djabar, who surrendered to police in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, confessed that he was involved in the bombing of Philippine Ambassador Leonids Caday's residence on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

He said the suspect admitted to playing a role as the executor of the blast along with Faturrahman Al-Ghozi, who is serving a 12-year jail sentence in a Philippine prison for possessing one ton of explosives.

He said the police had learned from Faturrahman in the Philippines that he, along with Abdul Djabar, detonated the car bomb with a remote control.

Police believe that Hambali was the mastermind behind the bombing and that he allegedly financed it.

Hamali, who is allegedly the chairman of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network in Southeast Asia, is also wanted in Singapore and the Philippines.

"According to Djabar's confession, the car bomb exploded within the embassy's compound and was assembled by Amrozi and Dulmatin, two suspects in the Bali blasts," he said, adding that the four were from two different cells of terrorist networks in the country because they did not know one another.

Erwin said that Amrozi, the first man arrested after the Bali bombings, bought explosive material and a car and helped assemble the bomb.

Just like in the Bali bombings, Amrozi allegedly bought the material in a chemical store in Surabaya. He later brought it to Cirebon, where he, Dulmatin and Sawad, another suspect who is currently at large, assembled the bomb, he said.

Suspect Farihin Ibnu Ahmad, who has been arrested for the Palu bombing, took the bomb to Jakarta, he said. Suspect Edi Setiono, alias Abas, allegedly surveyed the location and drove the car to the ambassador's residence.

Setiono is currently serving a life sentence for the bombing of the Atrium shopping mall.

Nine suspects in the blast at the ambassador's residence: Hambali alias Riduan Isamuddin (still at large), Amrozi (in police custody), Hutomo Pamungkas alias Mubarok (in police custody), Farihin Ibnu Ahmad alias Yasir (in police custody), Fathurrahman Al-Ghozi alias Mike alias Randy, (jailed in the Philippines), Dulmatin (still at large), Sawad alias Sarjio (still at large), Edi Setiono alias Abas (jailed in Jakarta), Abdul Jabar (in police custody).