Police identify six more suspects

I Wayan Juniartha and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali

The joint investigation team into the Bali bombing identified on Sunday six more suspects, a development that provided a clearer picture of the perpetrators of the deadly blasts.

Chief of the joint team Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika told a press conference here that the suspects were believed to be still be in Indonesia.

"We assume that they, including Imam Samodra, are still in Indonesia. Some of them are currently hiding in very sensitive places," Pastika said without elaborating.

When asked whether he was referring to Islamic boarding schools, Pastika refused to comment.

Pastika claimed the composite sketches of the suspects were more accurate than the previous ones released to the public last month.

"By releasing these (new) sketches, we hope that the people, who live around those sensitive places will voluntarily inform us on the whereabouts of the suspects," he said.

Citing the government regulation in lieu of law on terrorism under which the investigation is being conducted, Pastika warned that anybody who assisted a terrorist on purpose, including by providing shelter, could be sentenced to between three and 15 years in jail.

Two of the sketches were a refined version of the previously released pictures of Dulmatin and Idris. There were also sketches of Imam Samodra, Umar alias Patek, and Umar alias Wayan, plus a photograph of M. Ali Imron, a younger brother of detained suspect Amrozi.

The team identified Samodra, Dulmatin and Idris as being those who assembled the bombs that went off in front of the Sari Club and inside Paddy's Cafe, both in the packed tourist resort of Kuta, and in front of the United States Consulate General in Renon in the provincial capital of Denpasar.

Samodra, who is also known as Al Fatih, Fat, Kudama, Abdul Aziz, Abu Umar and Heri, is believed to be the leader of the bombing operation. According to Pastika, Samodra presided over all of the meetings in Java and Bali to prepare for the attack and determined the targets of the bombing.

"He is the leader, field commander, planner, and he also has bomb-assembling skills. In fact, he is connected to the Christmas bombings in Riau, Batam, Jakarta and West Java," Pastika said.

Born as Abdul Azis, the 35-year-old Sundanese was described as a highly mobile man with a clear brown complexion, thin moustache, and always wearing a hat. Police also said he had been to Afghanistan during the Soviet Union's occupation there.

"He is the most intelligent man in this group. He is a university graduate who majored in architecture and engineering. There are indications that he was still in Bali up to Oct. 14, so for four full days he was watching us doing our work at the crime scene," Pastika said.

Samodra was said to always have a laptop with him.

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Idris, also known as Jhoni Hendrawan and Gembrot, was believed to be Samodra's second-in- command. Reportedly of Malay or Minang ethnicity, who studied in an Islamic boarding school in Johor, Malaysia. He allegedly provided financial and logistical support for the operation. He was also the man who bought the motorbike later used by the bombers to fled from the crime scene.

The third man was Dulmatin, a 32-year-old Javanese of Arab descent. The team also identified him as the man who detonated the bomb.

"We know that the bombs were detonated by a cellular phone. We also know that it was his cellular phone, and that he was the man who operated the cellular phone," Pastika explained.

His junior high school teacher in Pemalang, Central Java, described him as a very intelligent student, and Pastika described him as an electronics expert. He helped build the bomb with electronic tools.

Dulmatin attended the junior high school under the name Djoko Supriyanto. He changed that name to Amar Usman when he was staying in Malaysia to pursue further education and employment. Upon returning to Indonesia, he changed his name again to Muktamar, and later to Dulmatin. His nickname is Matin.

So far, the team had not found any concrete evidence that linked the bombing operation and Imam Samodra with Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda or Abubakar Ba'asyir, a cleric now detained for his alleged role in a series of bombings in the past.

Pastika did not specify the identities of the men who actually brought the bombs into the target area. He said Amrozi, the only suspect in police detention, refused to disclose who drove the minivan L-300 inside which the powerful bomb was placed to Kuta.

Pastika said earlier that the bombings were "technically planned" and precisely timed.

The first bomb exploded in Paddy's Cafe on Oct. 12 at 23.08.25'. This bomb only claimed eight lives. In six seconds, the second bomb, which was the most powerful, detonated in front of the Sari Club at 23.08.31'. Four minutes later, another car bomb exploded separately near to the U.S. Consulate General in Renon, Denpasar.