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.