Bali suspect 'built bombs for church attacks'

Bali suspect 'built bombs for church attacks'

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Dul Matin, alias Joko Pitono, a fugitive wanted for his alleged
involvement in the deadly Bali bombings, assembled bombs used in
attacks on churches across the archipelago in 2000, police said
on Monday.

Earlier, police accused the alleged mastermind of the Bali
blasts, Imam Samudra, of ordering the Christmas attacks in
Jakarta, Batam and West Nusa Tenggara, which killed at least 19
people three years ago.

Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis, spokesman for the team investigating
the Bali bombings, said the police were convinced Dul Matin built
the bombs used to attack the churches. They have based their
conclusion on statements from Abdul Jabar, a suspect in the 2000
explosions.

Abdul, 33, turned himself in to the West Nusa Tenggara Police
last week and confessed to taking part in the 2000 church
bombings. He also is accused of an attack on the Jakarta
residence of the Philippine ambassador and an explosion at the
Atrium shopping center, also in the capital.

"The one thing that makes us very confident is the confession
of Abdul Jabar. He said the bombs that exploded in Batam,
Jakarta, Lombok and Bali were assembled by Dul Matin, who is
still at large," Zainuri said.

Police have accused Dul Matin of making the huge bombs that
tore through Paddy's Cafe and Sari Club on Bali's Kuta strip,
killing nearly 200 people, mostly Westerners, on Oct. 12, 2002.

Experts have expressed doubt that the powerful bombs used in
the Bali blasts could have been assembled by the group of alleged
bombers led by Imam Samudra without the help of other parties,
including highly skilled foreigners.

Abdul, however, has not been linked to the Bali bombings,
which have been blamed on Jamaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic
group believed to have ties with al-Qaeda.

Police say Abdul told them he knew Imam and helped him buy
bomb-making equipment in 2000. Abdul was transported to Bali on
Saturday and then flown to Jakarta for questioning. He remains in
police custody.

Zainuri also said Dul Matin was a "favorite student" of Dr.
Asahari, a Malaysian suspected of involvement in the Bali blasts.

Dul Matin is believed to have learned from the Malaysian
physicist how to build bombs using chemicals, he said.

The fugitive also is suspected to have received bomb-making
training in Afghanistan between 1987 and 1992. "At the time,
Afghanistan was at war against the Russians," Zainuri said.

Dul Matin is among at least 10 Bali bombing suspects,
including key suspect Idris, still at large and investigators
believe he is still in Indonesia. The police are currently
holding 16 suspects in the Bali tragedy.

Sources close to the investigation said the police were
intensifying their search for Dul Matin in East, Central and West
Java.

Zainuri said police also were investigating evidence of a
newspaper found at the house allegedly rented by Imam on Jl.
Menjangan in Bali.

The paper contains rough sketches suspected to be a map to the
two nightclubs, he said.

Meanwhile, police said they would likely resubmit the dossier
on another key suspect, Amrozi, to the Bali Prosecutor's Office
later this week. The dossier was returned to investigators for
revisions.

Zainuri said police had inserted the testimony of Amrozi's
younger brother Ali Imron, also a key suspects, into the dossier
as part of the required revisions.

The spokesman for the investigative team said Imam's dossier
would be filed at the same time police resubmitted Amrozi's case
file in the next few days.

Zainuri also said police did not object to a proposal for Imam
to be tried outside of Bali in connection with his alleged
involvement in the 2000 bombings in Jakarta, Batam and West Nusa
Tenggara.

Meanwhile, Insp. Gen. Amsad Embay, the head of the
antiterrorism coordinating desk at the Office of the Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs, said the involvement
of Jamaah Islamiyah in the Bali bombings had been proven.

"The findings of the investigative team shows that the
involvement of Jamaah Islamiyah is fact," he told El Shinta
radio.

"The arrested perpetrators belong to Jamaah Islamiyah," he
added.

Amsad said the refusal of other authorities to directly link
the Bali bombings with Jamaah Islamiyah was due to
"cautiousness".

He said two Muslim clerics, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and the late
Abdullah Sungkar, founded the group.

Ba'asyir has been detained in Jakarta since Oct. 20 on charges
of treason as well as for his alleged involvement in the 2000
church attacks.

Chief Bali bombing investigator Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku
Pastika has said senior Jamaah Islamiyah members, including
Hambali, held a meeting in Bangkok in February of last year to
discuss plans to stage bombings in Singapore and Indonesia.