Police acknowledge difficulties in investigating Pamulang bombing

Police acknowledge difficulties in investigating Pamulang bombing

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police said on Monday a lack of evidence was hampering their
investigation into a bombing on June 8 in Pamulang, Tangerang,
near the house of a Muslim cleric.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said officers were
having trouble tracing the source of the explosives used in the
bombing, and the license plate number of the motorcycle that was
ridden by two people believed to have thrown the low-explosive
bomb.

Police have questioned 11 witnesses in the case, including a
security guard and a neighbor, Firman said.

He said questioning witnesses was all the police could do
because there was no way to trace the bomb, which was made from
potassium chlorate, the same material used in firecrackers.

"Anybody can make a low-explosive device because it is easy to
buy the material," Firman said.

Many households in Bekasi, Tambun, Sawangan and Tangerang
produce firecrackers, especially before and during Ramadhan, the
Muslim fasting month.

A small explosion occurred early on the morning of June 8 in
front of a house rented by Muslim preacher Mohammad Iqbal, or Abu
Jibril, 47, in Pamulang, Tangerang, which borders Jakarta. The
explosion occurred after weeks of bomb threats in the capital.

No one was injured in the blast.

There has been speculation that the explosion was an attempt
to link Jibril to a bombing case after he got off with a light
punishment for an immigration offense last year, following his
deportation from Malaysia. Jibril was deported over suspected
ties to the regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah, which is
accused of masterminding several bombings in Indonesia.

After the bombing on June 8, officers took away several items
from Jibril's house, including a laptop computer, dozens of VCDs
and a video camera, before returning the items hours later.