Police question wife of Noordin, declare new bombing suspect
Police question wife of Noordin, declare new bombing suspect
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police investigators have questioned a woman claiming to be the
wife of Noordin Moh. Top, one of two Malaysian fugitives believed
to have masterminded a series of bomb attacks across the country.
"We have questioned a woman claiming to be Noordin's wife and
asked when they were last together, I don't remember her
initials, but they got married here," National Police chief Gen.
Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday.
No information was given as to when Noordin and the woman were
married, whether the two have children or where the woman lives.
Da'i said police let the woman return to her parents after the
questioning. He declined to reveal when the questioning took
place.
Police have been searching for Noordin since the Aug. 5, 2003
bomb attack at the JW Marriot Hotel in South Jakarta, in which at
least 12 lives were claimed.
British-trained bomb maker Azahari is also on the police's
most-wanted list for his role in attacks blamed on regional
terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has
suffered sporadic bomb attacks since 1999, including the Oct. 12,
2002 Bali bombings, in which at least 202 people were killed.
A bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy in South
Jakarta on Sept. 9, killing at least ten people and injuring some
200 others.
Meanwhile, police have named another suspect in the embassy
bombing, bringing the number to five.
According to National Police chief of detectives Suyitno
Landung, the new suspect, identified as IR, was arrested in West
Java last week.
"His initials are IR. He has a relationship with another
suspect named R, who is still at large," Suyitno said.
The police said IR was asked by an alleged suicide bomber
identified as G alias IG alias HG to deliver two letters -- one
to his wife and one to his parents in Rengasdengklok, West Java.
"Those were farewell letters, written in Sundanese and Bahasa
Indonesia respectively," said Suyitno.
According to him, G alias IC alias HG apologized to his family
in the letters, but said he would die a martyr.
Police are still conducting DNA tests on body parts found at
the bomb site, to match them against blood samples taken from the
family members of G, IB, J and H in West and East Java.
"We also found out that there are some more people from West
Java -- with the initials IZ, IG and IP -- who were willing to be
suicide bombers. We are still tracking them down," said Suyitno.
Police had earlier named four people suspected of involvement
in the embassy bombing -- AAH and three others, identified as UB,
IS alias AF and DN.
AAH allegedly transported explosives used in the embassy
bombing from a house in Cengkareng, West Jakarta to two houses in
West Java, while the three others are believed to have harbored
Azahari. The three were detained before the bomb exploded on
Sept. 8.
"On the afternoon of Sept. 22 we found five body pieces (in
the vicinity of the Australian Embassy) which we assume are parts
of a human head -- or heads -- because there was hair on them,"
said Suyitno.
Police are still trying to locate the place where the bomb was
assembled and the place where the perpetrators prepared
themselves to carry out the attack.
"We are concentrating on West Java, Banten and Greater
Jakarta," said Suyitno.