FBI helps investigate bombing attempt in Medan

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.