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.