Police identify third Bali suicide bomber

Police identify third Bali suicide bomber

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police said on Saturday they had identified the
third suicide bomber of the Oct. 1 bomb attacks on Bali, as
efforts in the manhunt for Noordin M. Top and other terrorists
continued.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said
that the third suicide bomber was Aip Hidayat, and he was a
resident of Pamarikan, Ciamis regency, West Java. He was the one
who blew up Raja's restaurant in Kuta, Bali.

Three suicide bombers almost simultaneously attacked three
restaurants packed with Saturday diners in early October, killing
20 people. This was the second bomb attack on Bali after the
first in 2002, which killed 202 people.

Following the death of Malaysian bombmaker Azahari bin Husin,
one of the most wanted terrorists in Asia, during a Nov. 9 raid
in Batu, East Java, the police announced that they had identified
two of the three bombers and it was confirmed that they were the
followers of Azahari after a video found in Azahari's hideout
with statements from the three bombers was discovered. The first
two bombers were identified as Salik M. Firdaus from Majalengka,
West Java, who blew up Kafe Nyoman and Misno from Cilacap,
Central Java, who blew up Kafe Menega in Jimbaran.

Police work to identify the Bali bombers had helped locate
Azahari. It is expected now that Aip has been identified as the
third bomber it will help efforts to hunt down Azahari's
compatriot Noordin and his followers, some of whom have received
intensive training from Azahari to assemble bombs and launch
terror attacks. Both Azahari and Noordin were considered
important figures in regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah.

Aryanto claimed that the police did not have sufficient data
on Aip yet as the investigation was still in process.

"We managed to identify him after we questioned people we had
arrested in relation to the second Bali blast. We're now
comparing DNA samples from the family as well to confirm the
bomber's identity," Aryanto said.

He said that the DNA test results would be released in a few
days.

Meanwhile, police in Central Java and East Java continued
their search for Noordin and his followers on Saturday.

Noordin, who escaped a Nov. 9 police raid in Semarang, Central
Java, is believed to be still hiding somewhere in the province or
to have moved to neighboring East Java.

According to newsportal detik.com, the police arrested six men
who had possible links with Noordin during an intensive search on
Friday and Saturday morning in Central Java.

The police's elite Detachment 88 antiterror unit, took with
them two terror suspects allegedly involved in the Oct. 1 Bali
blast in the weekend search in Central Java.

There were rumors on Saturday morning that Noordin had been
caught in the Central Java town of Temanggung, but local police
chief Widiyanto Poesoko denied it, although he acknowledged that
members of Detachment 88 conducted a sweeping operation on Friday
evening.