'DPR, UN, airport bombs similar'
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police say they have established a link between the recent bomb blast at the national legislative complex in Senayan and the ones the exploded near the United Nations building and the Soekarno- Hatta International Airport earlier in April this year.
This was revealed by National Police detectives' chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng on Wednesday.
"We have consulted with various experts and have identified specific materials (from the blast sites) which are often used in mining and oil prospecting," he told reporters at National Police Headquarters.
The device went off at the western end of the Nusantara IV building in the complex on July 14. The explosion did not claim any casualties but it broke a number of windows in the vicinity.
Among the similarities were the finding of metal cones and nails at all the bomb sites.
Erwin said the police had gathered a total of nine metal cones from the three bomb sites. Some of these were still intact and were recovered from the device which was defused at the airport.
In addition to the similarities in the cones that were packed into the bombs, police also confirmed that the motorcycle battery and metal pipe contained in the bomb at the national legislative complex was similar to the ones found at the bomb sites at the airport and near the UN office.
Police had earlier alleged that Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels were behind the two bombings, although GAM denied any involvement.
However, this time around the police have declined to point the finger at this group.
Erwin would only say that the police had yet to identify any group as being responsible for the bombing at the legislative complex.
Earlier, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar had announced that the police had found a number of intact fingerprints on fragments of the bomb.
Police are currently trying to match these fingerprints with those in their databank. If they cannot find a match, then they will attempt to match them with those of persons who might be suspected of being involved in the bombing.
The bomb blast at the national legislative complex took place just three days after police warned the public of possible bomb threats nationwide following the arrest of nine suspected members of the regional terrorist network, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), in Semarang and Magelang, Central Java, and Jakarta.
From these suspects, the police managed to seize an array of firearms, ammunition, and explosives with destructive power of up to four times that of the ones which exploded in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002, claiming 202 lives and injured 300. Most of the victims in the Bali bombings were foreign tourists.
The trials of the alleged perpetrators of the Bali bombings are underway.
Police believe that JI, which has been officially labeled by the UN as a terrorist network, was behind the Bali bombings.
JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is also being tried in the Central Jakarta District Court for treason and immigration violations.
After arresting the nine suspects, the police said that they were still searching for other active bombs that had reportedly been transported by one of the suspects from Semarang to Jakarta.
Unfortunately, the police failed to find out the exact whereabouts of the bombs as the man believed to have transported them, identified as Ikhwanuddin alias Asim, allegedly committed suicide during interrogation. Police have made no further statements on the purported suicide since then.
Erwin said that the police were still hunting for four more JI members who managed to evade the recent dragnet.
According to Erwin, these four suspected JI members had fled Java island following the recent widespread hue and cry in the media.