Police name suspected McDonald's bombers
Police name suspected McDonald's bombers
Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar
Only four days after last Thursday's bombings in the South
Sulawesi capital of Makassar, police appear to have achieved a
major breakthrough in their investigation into the deadly blasts
with the naming of six suspects on Monday.
The investigators also linked the bombers with the devastating
Bali blasts on Oct. 12, 2002, which killed over 190 people and
injured some 300 others, mostly foreigners.
The six suspects were named as Ansar Daeng Salam, 20,
Muchtar Daeng Lau, 38, Usman, Masnur, Ilham and
Agung Hamid.
According to South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman
Gani, they are the members of the team or cell that bombed the
McDonald's restaurant and car dealership in Makassar on Thursday,
killing three people and wounding 11 others in the fast-food
outlet.
He explained that the plot was masterminded by Agung Hamid and
Ilham, both still at large, while Muchtar and Masnur were
identified as the bomb-makers, and Usman and Ansar as field
operatives.
Muchtar is believed to have been trained in Afghanistan and
the southern Philippines. He and Agung Hamid are suspected of
being members of the radical group, Laskar Jundullah.
However, the police have detained only three of the six
suspects, Muchtar, Usman and Masnur, while Ansar was among the
three people killed in the blast, Firman added.
He said the investigators believed Ansar died as he detonated
the bomb in McDonald's.
Citing forensic evidence, Firman said Ansar's injuries were
consistent with his having accidentally set off the bomb. But the
police did not rule out a suicide bombing.
Firman said Masnur was captured on Monday at 12 a.m. by police
in Kolaka regency, Southeast Sulawesi, and would soon be brought
to Makassar for interrogation.
When arresting Masnur, the police found four detonators, 2.5
kilograms of TNT, some low explosive powder and a manual on how
to assemble bombs, Firman said.
He said the bombs were assembled at Masnur's metal workshop
located on Jl. M. Jufri I in his hometown of Tallo.
As part of their investigations, the police had also raided
the home of Masnur's father-in law, Haji Mansyur, in Kolaka.
Based on the evidence found by police during a raid on
Masnur's Abadi Raya Makmur metal workshop over the weekend, the
bombers were also planning to attack churches across South
Sulawesi, particularly over Christmas.
"We have found pictures of churches and maps of their
locations in various regencies in South Sulawesi," Firman said.
Firman further said that the bombers were part of the
terrorist network that was behind the Oct. 12 Bali bombing.
He rejected, however, the widespread accusations that Laskar
Jundullah and its parent organization, the Committee to Uphold
Islamic Sharia (KPSI), were involved in the bombing of the
McDonald's outlet.
"The bomb blasts in Makassar had nothing to do with either
Laskar Jundullah or the KPSI, or certain other religious groups.
It was staged purely by an international and regional terrorist
network," Firman said.
His denial came despite the fact that at least two of the six
bombing suspects are members of Laskar Jundullah -- Muchtar and
Agung Hamid.
Laskar Jundullah, whose leader Agus Dwikarna is serving a 17-
year jail sentence in the Philippines for possession of
explosives, has denied responsibility for the blasts.