Police confirm Asmar's JI ties

Police confirm Asmar's JI ties

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have confirmed the link between Asmar Latin Sani, the man
who allegedly drove the car that carried the bomb used in the JW
Marriott Hotel attack, and the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist
network, saying the 28-year-old belonged to a JI squad led by
Mustofa.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Tuesday that
Asmar, whose severed head was found on the fifth floor of the
hotel, was a member of Mustofa's squad.

"But I have no idea what kind of squad it was. Asmar was on
our wanted list along with other suspects, some of whom have been
arrested," he said.

A police source said Mustofa led a khos (special) suicide
squad believed to have between 10 and 15 members.

Mustofa -- who has numerous aliases, including Pranata Yuda,
Abu Tholut, Yono and Imron -- is believed to be the former head
of the JI state-level area called Mantiqi Thalid (III), which
oversees Sulawesi, Sabah and Mindanao.

He was allegedly serving as the leader of the JI headquarters
in Jakarta when he was arrested in Kaliabang, north Bekasi, early
last month. During the same period that Mustofa was detained,
police also arrested between July 4 and July 9 a total of nine
suspected JI members in Semarang, Central Java.

Mustofa allegedly was the owner of almost two tons of
explosives found at a rented house in Semarang.

He told police that he received military training in
Afghanistan in 1987 and 1988, and served as a trainer at the Al
Islami Al Jamaah training camp in the southern Philippines in
1997 and 1998.

National Police chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Erwin
Mappaseng, said Asmar was among the suspects being sought by
police following the arrest of the nine suspects in Semarang.

"We were searching for him (Asmar) when we arrested Toni
Togar's group in Pekanbaru, Riau and Medan, North Sumatra. But we
failed to find him. When we arrested Mustofa, he (Asmar) was also
included (on the wanted list)," he said, declining to confirm if
Asmar was a member of Mustofa's alleged suicide squad.

Erwin also declined to comment on a report that Asmar harbored
two key suspects in last year's Bali bombings -- Dr. Azhari and
Dulmatin -- at his home in Bengkulu.

"That is the direction we are going in. We are investigating
if they were connected," he said.

Erwin said the police had completed about 90 percent of their
investigation at the Marriott blast site.

"We are going to proceed with the most difficult part of the
investigation, which is chasing the suspects," he said.

Also on Tuesday, a suspicious brown suitcase was found near
the Darul Abror Mosque in the National Atomic Energy Agency
housing complex in Rawa Bambu, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

Eyewitnesses said two people riding a motorcycle left the
suitcase near the mosque at 10 a.m.

They reported the incident to the local police, who contacted
the Jakarta Police's bomb squad.

At 11:30 a.m., eight bomb squad officers led by First Insp.
Triadimus detonated the suspicious suitcase.

There was no immediate word on what the suitcase contained.