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.