Police manual sheds light on bombing

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Thirteen months and four days after a bomb exploded on the driveway of the JW Marriott Hotel in the Mega Kuningan business district, South Jakarta, another bomb rocked the capital in front of the Australian Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said, also in Kuningan.

The latest blast killed nine people and injured 182 others, while the Marriott bombing took the lives of 12 people and wounded 147.

Both attacks were similarly horrific and both had similar casualty figures. But there are other resemblances to these attacks and the much more catastrophic Bali bombing of Oct. 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.

A 42-page manual on the reenactment of the Marriott bombing released by the police last year shows how mobile the terror suspects were.

And police allege that some suspects still at large -- particularly Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top -- played a key role in staging the latest attack.

Before the Marriott bombing, Azahari and Noordin recruited Asmar Latin Sani, the suicide bomber, and two others, Ismail and Tohir, to help prepare the bombs and other equipment used.

The group moved from one rented house to another to prepare their attack and avoid police detection. Houses used as their hideouts included those on Gang Taslim off Jl. Otto Iskandar Dinata, East Jakarta; Jl. Mujair, Rawa Bambu, Pasar Minggu; and Jl. Kemuning, South Jakarta.

In each attack police were always one crucial step behind finding the bombers -- this time they found traces of explosives at an empty rented house in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, on Friday. Police believed the house had been used by the terrorists to store and rig the bomb.

In the Bali bombing, the terrorists repeatedly used different motorcycles to survey safe houses, to select and case locations and to prepare the attack. When the bomb was ready, they bought a minivan to deliver the blast.

Police say the terrorists often used phone kiosks to communicate to avoid any possible police bugging.

During their preparations for the Bali attack, the suspects also prepared a hiding place by renting a house on Jl. Cigadung Raya in Bandung.

Noordin and Tohir did not take part in the bombing, police say, since they had left for Bandung to carry the rest of explosives and the luggage of the group members.

Asmar, the suicide bomber, carried out his final duty -- to blow up the bomb -- while Azahari and Ismail were ready with a remote control unit to detonate the bomb if Asmar failed to accomplish his mission.

"It is clear that terrorist suspects are well-organized. Each member of the group knows their role well ... This kind of organization also led to the recent bombing," said Tubagus Nitibaskara, a criminologist at the University of Indonesia.

However, Tubagus warned that with several new recruits ready to die in further suicide bombings, the group could be ready to launch another attack with less preparation.

National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung said earlier police had received information three new recruits of the group had contacted their families to express their preparedness "to marry" -- the same term used by Asmar to refer to the suicide bombing.

Police now believe the Australian Embassy attack was carried out by two suicide bombers whose body parts were found at the blast site. With at least another suspect still on the loose, police need all the help from the public they can get to prevent another attack.

I-box

Similarities between the terror attacks

Bali bombings Marriott bombing Kuningan bombing

Oct. 12, 2002 Aug. 8, 2003 Sept. 9, 2004

Vehicle Mitsubishi L-300 Toyota Kijang suspected a Daihatsu Zebra

Explosives potassium chlorate black powder, TNT, suspected 200 kg of potassium chlorate

TNT, black powderHMX, RDX (150 kg)

Modus suicide bomb suicide bomb suspected suicide bomb

Perpetrator(s) Iqbal Asmar Latin Sani two as-yet unidentified suicide bombers

Crater five-meter diameter three-meter diameter three-meter diameter

Storing and rented home on Jl. rented home on Jl. rented home in Cengkareng rigging site Pulau Menjangan, Kemuning,South Jakarta West Jakarta

Denpasar

Source: National Police