Police hunt two men in Pamulang bombing

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have narrowed down their investigation into the Wednesday bomb attack on the house of radical Muslim cleric Abu Jibril by focusing on a witness who saw one of two men on a motorbike throw the explosives.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the witness, identified as Edy, owned a house and a small shop in front of Abu Jibril's rented premises in Pamulang, Tangerang.

"We think we can find out a lot of useful information from him as he was the only person beside the housing complex security guard who saw the two men on the motorcycle," he said.

A source close to the investigation, however, said police suspected Edy knew more about the bombing. Police thought it was strange he had opened his shop at 4 a.m. -- about 20 minutes before the explosion took place.

"In those wee hours, he said he was minding his shop, not going to the mosque for dawn prayers," the source said.

Tjiptono, however, said that police had not declared any suspects until they could identify the two men.

He said witnesses had identified the motorcycle as a Honda Supra and told police the man who threw the bag of explosives wore a black leather jacket.

"We are now trying to identify the motorcycle's registration number and are asking witnesses to try and remember the faces of the two men. We hope we can sketch their likenesses soon," Tjiptono said.

Preliminary investigations showed the bomb was designed to scare, not kill, injure or destroy property, he said.

"We don't know yet whether it was targeted at Abu Jibril to terrorism him or served other purpose."

"We questioned Abu Jibril as a witness for several hours. We also will give him back everything we confiscated from his house immediately after we finish checking it. We have never said that he had anything to do with the blast."

Tjiptono said police would also cross-check residents' statements that several armed men were seen walking around Abu Jibril's house earlier before the explosion.

The small bomb, which created a 20-centimeter diameter blast crater about six centimeter deep, rocked the Palembang area but hurt no one.

Abu Jibril, who the United States believes is one of the top recruiters for terrorist organization Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), was deported from Malaysia last year and spent several months in police custody. JI is the group accused of masterminding the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel blast, and last year's bomb attack outside the Australian Embassy.

Abu was later released after the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced him to five and half months's jail for passport fraud.