Blast perpetrated by lone suicide bomber: police

Blast perpetrated by lone suicide bomber: police

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

All the body parts found at the bomb site outside the Australian
Embassy in Jakarta belonged to one suicide bomber, a police
general close to the investigation revealed on Sunday.

The general, who declined to be named, also said the powerful
bomb that killed at least 10 people and wounded over 180 others
was detonated from inside the vehicle carrying it.

"From our examination, all the body parts we have found at the
scene belong to one person. Maybe we will later we find other
fragments belonging to somebody else, but for now only one
suicide bomber was inside the vehicle," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that it was the driver of the white Daihatsu Zebra box
van who detonated the bomb, adding that the death toll from the
blast stood at 10 people, including the suicide bomber.

"All rumors that the bomb was detonated by someone else from a
distance are illogical. This was a suicide bombing," the high-
ranking police officer asserted.

Several media outlets had earlier reported that the number of
bombers could be two or three, including one or two who detonated
the bomb from outside the vehicle.

Other reports had speculated that the incident was not a
suicide bombing and that the bomb had been detonated by remote
control near the scene.

The police general said investigators were still conducting
laboratory tests on the body fragments and several blood samples
to identify the suicide bomber, whom several media outlets named
as Fauzan.

"Based on the tests, the DNA taken from family members of the
suspected bombers do not match those of the body parts," he
added.

Police forensic laboratory chief Brig. Gen. Dudon Satyaputra
confirmed that his laboratory was not yet able to identify the
owners of the 117 body fragments.

"We need more time as the body parts were almost completely
destroyed by the blast, which produced a temperature of some
2,000 degrees Celsius," he told the Post.

Police have said they have officially detained four people as
suspects in the tragedy, including one identified only by his
initials as AAH, who was accused of helping Malaysian fugitives
Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top transport explosives from
West Java to Jakarta. AAH was captured after the blast.

Both Azahari and Noordin have been blamed for masterminding
the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and the 2003 JW
Marriott Hotel attack which claimed 12 lives. Police believe the
two have recruited a number of new suicide bombers, including the
perpetrators of the Sept. 9 bombing in front of the Australian
Embassy.

The police have also warned of possible further terror
attacks, saying Azahari and Noordin still had high explosives.

Three other detained suspects were identified only as UB, IS,
and TN, who were arrested before the deadly blast in Ngruki,
Surakarta, Central Java.

Police investigators said the three men had allegedly harbored
Azahari and Noordin, while Heri, the man believed to be the last
owner of the vehicle used in the embassy bombing, remained at
large.

The police disseminated sketches of Heri last week.

National Police Director of Counterterrorism Brig. Gen.
Pranowo Dahlan said that over 80 people had been questioned in
connection with the blast and 10 others detained as suspects.

On Friday, Rahmatullah and his wife, who were arrested in
Sidoarjo, East Java, two days earlier were released due to lack
of evidence.

Meanwhile, two police officers, Second Brig. Dicky Maulana and
First Adj. Brig. Wahyu -- who were among those severely injured
in the incident, were flown to Singapore on Sunday for further
medical treated.

Earlier, another wounded policeman Second Brig. Asep Wahyudi
had also been flown to Singapore.