Blast blamed on Malaysian fugitives

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.