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.