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.