Police finish preliminary reconstruction of Marriott blast

Police finish preliminary reconstruction of Marriott blast

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A day after police confirmed the link between Asmar Latin Sani,
who allegedly drove the explosives-laden van in the Marriott
bombing, with a member of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in custody in
connection with the Bali case, International Crisis Group
chairwoman Sydney Jones indicated that the fight against the
regional terror group was far from over.

"I believe that most of the JI members are still here and they
have key positions," she told Antara.

Jones also believed that the strong ideology and command by JI
members in Indonesia would likely spell other terror acts in the
future.

A police source had said they found documents during the
arrest of nine alleged JI members in Semarang last month that
listed about 50 strategic points in the country that could be
targeted by the terror group, although the statement was
instantly denied by National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Basir
Barmawi.

The Aug. 5 bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel, the fifth bombing
in the capital this year, killed 12 people -- mostly taxi drivers
and security guards -- and injured 147 others.

On Tuesday, a week after the attack, police claimed they had
completed 90 percent of the investigation at the blast site.

By Wednesday, they had confirmed that the preliminary
reconstruction of the bomb attack was complete, as National
Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis told The Jakarta
Post.

Zainuri said the bombing was reconstructed by investigators
mainly based on eyewitnesses' statements to provide investigators
with a better idea as to how the car bomb exploded, explosives
used and the direction of projectiles.

The explosion made a crater over two meters in diameter, which
penetrated the 32-centimeter-thick concrete above the basement.

National Police Forensics Central Laboratory chief Brig. Dudon
Satyaputra said the explosives were delivered in a metallic blue
Toyota Kijang.

Dudon said the bomb consisted of a mixture of low explosives
gunpowder, sulfur and carbon, and high explosives TNT, RDX and
HMX placed in two blue plastic jerrycans and one 19-liter water
bottle.

Each of the containers carried about 50 kilograms of
explosives, so it was estimated that around 150 kilograms of
explosives was used in the Marriott bombing.

"The bomber also placed four jerrycans containing a mixture of
gasoline and kerosene around the explosives," said Dudon.

The fuel ignited upon explosion to produce fireballs that
razed the lobby of the hotel. Most of the victims died from
severe burns.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar claimed yesterday
that police had identified those JI members believed responsible
for the Marriott bombing.

"Our personnel are already conducting surveillance on several
people suspected to be a part of this team," he said, and
declined to mention any names for reasons of security.

He also reasserted that the severed head found on the
Marriott's fifth floor along with two hands and parts of a leg
belonged to Asmar.

"Our investigation resulted in the identification of that
victim, possibly a suspect, as Asmar," he told reporters at the
City of Jakarta Media Center at the Sari Pan Pacific hotel,
Central Jakarta.

The identification was confirmed by a DNA comparison with
Asmar's parents, his sister Amanda and his associates -- who had
been arrested earlier in Pekanbaru, Riau, and Jakarta.

Police had initially identified Asmar through two detained JI
members, who said he was recruited by a JI cell in Pekanbaru and
belonged to a squad led by senior JI leader, Mustofa.

Upon his arrest in early July, Mustofa said he was the leader
of JI's Jakarta headquarters. He also said he was former head of
a JI regional jurisdiction, Mantiqi Thalid III, which oversees
the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Malaysia and the Philippines.

It is also alleged that Mustofa is in charge of a special
suicide squad believed to have 10 to 15 members, one of whom is
suspected to have been Asmar.

Da'i also showed reporters some photographs of those Bali
bombing suspects who were still at large, including Dr. Azhari
and Dulmatin.