Officers to get award for Bali bombing probe

Officers to get award for Bali bombing probe

Agencies, Jakarta

Three Indonesian police officers will receive awards from
Australia for their role in hunting down some of those
responsible for the deadly Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002.

Six other Indonesians who assisted victims and bereaved
families in the aftermath of the atrocities will also be honored
when Australian Prime Minister John Howard visits Bali next week
to commemorate the first anniversary of the Oct. 12 attack.

The carnage, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australian
tourists, deeply shocked Australia, which had previously regarded
itself as remote and largely immune from global terrorism.

During his stay, Howard will formally make Bali Police chief
Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika an Honorary Officer of the Order
of Australia for his role in directing the investigation into the
Oct. 12 bombings.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and Brig. Gen. Gorys
Mere, who heads Indonesia's police counterterrorism operations,
will receive the same award.

"I feel greatly honored and humbled," Pastika was quoted by
the Associated Press as saying on Thursday. His team, working
alongside the Australian Federal Police, arrested 35 suspects.

Twenty-one have so far been convicted for their part in the
bombings that ripped through and set fire to two packed
nightclubs.

Most received long prison terms. Three were sentenced to death
by firing squad.

An official from Howard's office in Canberra confirmed, on
usual condition of anonymity, that the honors would be awarded as
part of a Bali bombings commemoration.

He said six Indonesians employed by the Australian consulate
in Bali would be given awards for the help they gave to
Australian victims and their families.

Pastika said he felt Bali was now safe, but warned that Jamaah
Islamiyah, the al-Qaida-linked terror group accused in the
attacks, could strike again.

"Since Bali is considered a soft target by terrorists, the
greatest danger is that it's almost impossible to differentiate
tourists from terrorists," he said.

"We invite people to come to Bali as tourists, but among them
could be terrorists."

Meanwhile, Makassar District Court in South Sulawesi sentenced
a man to seven years in jail on Thursday for his involvement in
blasts in the city of Makassar last year, including a suicide
bombing at a McDonald's outlet that killed three people.

Judge Jassolong Situmorang said Muhammat Tang, alias Ittang,
30, had provided a key suspect in the Dec. 5 bombings with
transport. The suspect, Agung Abdul Hamid, is on the run.

The judge said Ittang was also guilty of involvement in a
bombing the same day at a car showroom in Makassar, which caused
no casualties.

Prosecutors had earlier sought an eight-year jail sentence for
Ittang, the fifth suspect in the Makassar bombings to have been
sentenced so far.