Police link six suspects to Jamaah Islamiyah

Police link six suspects to Jamaah Islamiyah

P.C. Naommy, Jakarta

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday that the
six terrorist suspects arrested in Sukoharjo, Central Java, on
Wednesday came from the same group as the Malaysian bomb experts
Noordin Mohammad Top and Azahari bin Husin who are still at
large.

Azahari and Noordin are both linked to the terrorist group
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been blamed for the Bali bombing
on Oct. 12, 2002 and the JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta attack on Aug.
5 last year.

"They (the six suspects) were in the group executing the Bali
bombing, the Marriott and other previous bomb attacks. And they
were affiliated with the planning and execution of those
bombings. But we still have to develop the investigation to know
their exact roles in those attacks," said Da'i.

The police said one of the six people, who was only identified
by his initials, US, was a citizen of "a neighboring country".
The remaining suspects were identified as AD, BA, MT, UM, FH and
YN.

The questioning of the suspects at the Central Java Police
Headquarters has revealed that they were involved in plotting
last year's bomb attack outside the United Nation's Building in
Central Jakarta.

The capture of the six suspects came after an intensive
interrogation of Dahlan, who was arrested in Bima, West Nusa
Tenggara on Sunday.

"Dahlan is a member of a group planning bomb attacks, and also
a member of the Azahari and Noordin groups," said Da'i.

Director of the Antiterror Division Brig. Gen. Pranowo had
previously said that Dahlan was connected to a man called Adi
Suryana, a member of "Group 12", whom the police believe played a
role in the planning of all the bomb attacks in this country over
the last four years.

Asked about the possibility of terrorist attacks during the
presidential election as foreign intelligence agencies previously
warned of, Da'i said the country's own intelligence body did not
have any reports indicating such an attack.

"But we will take (the foreign) reports into account and we
will increase the number of security personnel in public places,
as well as to coordinate with groups of temporary civilian
militia and private sector security guards," said Da'i.

Da'i said that for the presidential election this Monday, the
police have deployed about 200,000 personnel to polling stations.
There are over 560,000 polling stations across the country.