Confusion reigns over probe into Tentena bombings

Confusion reigns over probe into Tentena bombings

Ruslan Sangadji and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post/Poso/Yogyakarta

A terrorist suspect detained in Yogyakarta has admitted to having
assembled the bomb that killed 21 people in the Central Sulawesi
town of Tentena last Saturday, Yogyakarta Police say.

However, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has his own
leads, saying investigators suspected that the explosives had
been assembled by an inmate in a Poso prison.

Police, Da'i said, found evidence that the bombs were linked
to a local government official, who was accused of the alleged
misuse of state funds allocated for people displaced by sectarian
conflict in Poso in 2000.

Yogyakarta Police said that based on the confession of a
terror suspect, Syaifullah, who is blamed for a blast outside at
the main post office and the attempted bombing of Kauman Mosque
in Yogyakarta on Jan. 27, the police were now hunting five
suspects allegedly recruited by Syaifullah, who were still on the
loose in Poso.

"Syaifullah mentioned his recruits, who we are identifying by
their initials as JM, JR, SD, SY and M. We have passed on this
information to the Central Sulawesi Police," Yogyakarta Police
chief Brig. Gen. Bambang Aris Sampurno said on Friday.

Syaifullah also told the Yogyakarta police he had assembled 48
more bombs between 2001 and 2002 while he was in Poso regency,
where Tentena is located. He said the remaining bombs had been
handed to a colleague in Pandajaya village in Poso he identified
as Ahmad Yani, who had been arrested before the Tentena blasts.

Central Sulawesi Police arrested Syaifullah recently, catching
him after he had been on the run for months.

Police said Syaifullah, who claimed to be a member of the
outlawed Indonesian Islamic State (NII) organization, had also
built up a network of terrorists in Poso. The 35-year-old had
undergone training with Moro Muslim rebels in the southern
Philippines, they said.

"All this information was revealed after the interrogation of
Syaifullah and his colleagues Suhadi and Taufik," Bambang said.

Syaifullah refused to talk to the press, saying the police had
not provided him with lawyers.

The naming of several local government officials as suspects
in the Tentena bombings has sparked speculation that the blasts
were planned to divert public attention from a corruption case.

Da'i said the police had discovered bomb materials, such as
tubes and iron pieces, in Poso prison.

"We're conducting forensic tests on the materials to see if
they match the bombs that went off in Tentena," he said.

Police had also found residues of bomb materials on prison
warden Hasman's body and similar materials in the car of former
social affairs official Abdul Kadir Sidik.

"However, we'll only be able to confirm such connections and
the motive for the attack after we manage to arrest AT and E,"
said Da'i, referring to two suspects who are still at large.

Antara reported that dozens of police officers had staked out
an unidentified island in the Togean chain, where AT and E are
believed to be hiding.

So far, the police have arrested a total of 20 people in
connection with the bombings, including Abdul Kadir and Hasman.

Abdul Kadir has accused the police of planting evidence, the
residues of bomb-making materials, in his car.