Blast blamed on Malaysian fugitives
Abdul Khalik and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It didn't take the police long to pin the blame for the deadly blast in front of the Australian Embassy here on Thursday on fugitive Malaysian bomb experts Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said during his inspection at the scene that he had many reasons for concluding that the latest in a string of attacks that took place during his tenure was the work of the two foreigners, who have also been blamed for the Bali blasts in October 2002 and the JW Marriot Hotel bombing in August 2003.
"Seeing the post-blast clues on the ground, we can conclude that the bombing has similarities to the Bali and Marriot bombings," Da'i said.
He said the explosion had been caused by a car bomb because of the presence of a wrecked car in front of the embassy, which he believed could have been used to carry the bomb.
"It's pretty similar to the Marriott and Bali bombings, as the attackers used a car to carry the bomb. However, we are not sure yet whether the bombers were killed in the car or had left before the bomb went off," said Da'i.
Police were still attempting to identify the bodies and body parts found at the scene.
Da'i said the perpetrators of the bombings were new recruits of the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group, who had been trained by Azahari and Noordin while they were on the run over the last couple of months. The two Malaysians are believed to be members of JI, which has been listed as a terror group by the United Nations.
Azahari and Noordin managed to escape a police raid in Bandung, West Java, last year.
The authorities had warned that both Malaysians were in possession of explosives and planned fresh attacks ahead of the July 5 first-round presidential election.
Da'i said the police had been informed in advance that Azahari and Noordin could attack a number of places, including the U.S. Embassy, the Australian Embassy, police headquarters and the newly-opened police antiterror school in Semarang. In the joint press conference later in the day, Da'i said the police would tighten security in those places.
The blast, however, should prove to be something of an embarrassment to the police as they had previously announced that they had captured several new recruits of Azahari who were planning to launch attacks across the country.
They arrested Saifuddin alias Abu Fida, a Muslim cleric believed to be a new recruit and to have known Azahari's whereabouts early in August, while at least nine other people have been interrogated at police headquarters for the same reason.
Police were also embarrassed recently when bomb squad chief Brig. Gen. Gorries Mere, who was involved in the probe into the Bali bombings, was spotted with Bali bomber Ali Imron in Starbucks cafe last week. The police defended Gorries, saying that he trying to elicit information from Imron and Abu Fida to about Azahari and Noordin's whereabouts. The police said they would be able to track down both fugitives thanks to the information they had received.
The police also appeared to disregard fresh warnings from the U.S. and the Australian governments last week, which said that JI could be on the verge of attacking a number of Western interests in the country. Responding to the alert, the police said they had detected only minor threats from unidentified terror groups.
Da'i said the bomb on Thursday was high explosive device TNT, judging by the absence of fire following the blast.