FBI helps investigate bombing attempt in Medan
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is helping North Sumatra police investigate an attempted supermarket bombing in the provincial capital, Medan, officials announced on Wednesday.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Edy Sunarno said a two- member FBI team arrived in Medan to investigate the bomb found last week on the second floor of the Macan Yoahan supermarket.
"The FBI agents are just what we need to help investigate the (attempted) terror bombing in Medan. They have already begun," he said.
Edy could not elaborate on the activities of the U.S. investigators.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta confirmed that the FBI team arrived at the request of the National Police to provide technical assistance. He declined to comment further.
"It's true they are here at the invitation of the Indonesian authorities," he told The Jakarta Post.
FBI agents and other international police forces helped investigate the Bali nightclub bombings of October 2002, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
An FBI team has also been investigating the fatal shooting of two Americans by unidentified attackers in an ambush in Papua province in August 2002.
The foreign-made bomb, which was found on March 9 at the busy supermarket in a multistory commercial building, was put in a black suitcase left at a bag-deposit counter.
The package contained five sticks of M-112 explosive linked by wires to detonators, an alarm clock and batteries.
"The bomb was a high-powered explosive. It could have claimed many lives if it had gone off," Edy said.
He identified the perpetrators behind the attempted blast as "professional and organized people".
Edy said witnesses told police investigators that the package was deposited by a man aged around 30 and, "we are continuing the investigation into suspects".
Medan Police chief Sr. Comr. Bagus Kurniawan has said suspects could be Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists or those from another terrorist group led by Dr Azahari who remains at large.
Azahari, a suspected key member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group, was among those blamed for a spate of bombings in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings.
However, Edy said the police could not yet determine which group was involved in the attempted bombing in Medan.
Meanwhile, Hadiningtiyas, lawyer for JI suspect Abu Yasar who is on trial for a church bombing in 2000, denied the possibility of Azahari's involvement in the incident.
"The police should not accuse a professional group in the incident because the facts are very different. The bombing would not have failed if it had been carried out by professionals," he said.
Hadiningtiyas quoted Abu Yasar as saying his group of Afghanistan alumni had long been disbanded and no longer perpetrated terror attacks.
The last terror attack involved the bombing of churches on Christmas Eve 2000, according to Abu Yasar, as quoted by the lawyer.