JI suspects say Poso attacker is comrade: Da'i

JI suspects say Poso attacker is comrade: Da'i

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Detainees arrested for their roles in a string of bomb explosions
in the country have identified one of the dead attackers in Poso
regency, Central Sulawesi, as an accomplice, National Police
chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said.

Da'i told reporters here on Thursday that several suspects now
in police custody for their role in the Bali blast and JW
Marriott Hotel bombing identified one of the dead perpetrators as
Madong.

"However, according to their confessions, he (Madong) was not
part of their movement. Apparently, he acted on his own," Da'i
said, and that in Poso, Madong summoned would-be attackers and
briefed them on operational tactics.

Da'i did not mention who had identified the body as Madong.

Police investigators have identified regional terrorist
network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) as being behind the Oct. 2003 Bali
bombings and the Aug. 5, 2003 JW Marriott Hotel terrorist attack.

Over 40 people have been arrested and tried for their role in
the Bali attacks that killed over 200 people, mostly foreigners.
Three of the key suspects have been sentenced to death.

According to Tempo magazine, Madong was trained by Jamaah
Islamiyah's former Sulawesi head Mustafa, who is in police
custody after he was apprehended in Bekasi, West Java, in July.

Mustafa, whose last position was JI's Jakarta commander, was
the one who trained Asmar Latin Sani, the alleged suicide bomber
in the Marriott attack.

A fragile peace in Central Sulawesi was shattered early this
month when a group of masked gunmen attacked predominantly
Christian villages in Morowali and Poso, killing at least 13
people.

Following the attacks, police apprehended 16 suspects, shot
dead five others and are still hunting down two fugitives.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla has
said that there were possible links between the violent Southeast
Asian-based network JI and the incidents, citing the past
presence of JI training camps in the religiously divided area.

Authorities have also said suspects in the renewed Poso
violence would be charged under the Antiterrorism Law, because
the attacks were possibly linked to JI.

The United Nations has put JI on its blacklist of terrorist
organizations, obliging UN members to freeze bank accounts
associated with the group and seize their assets.

National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Commr. Zainuri Lubis said
on Wednesday that the Poso attackers targeted their victims
randomly, so their actions could be classified as terrorism.

The attackers were found carrying explosives and firearms, had
damaged private property, and caused the loss of human life, and
would thus be punished using the Criminal Code, he said.

"From the way they acted, they have violated some articles in
the Antiterrorism Law, therefore we will use that law as well as
the Criminal Code," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Zainuri added that the attackers had created an environment of
fear, not only for locals, but also for the whole country. "Fear
is the main objective of terrorism," he said.

Poso regency had achieved a relative state of peace after the
government brokered a peace accord between Muslim and Christian
leaders in December 2001 to end the two-year sectarian conflict
that resulted in the deaths of at least 2,000 people since 2000.