Police stage reconstruction of police HQ bombing
Police stage reconstruction of police HQ bombing
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In the absence of a suspect, police investigators carried out on
Tuesday a reconstruction of the bombing at Wisma Bhayangkari, a
building that forms part of the National Police Headquarters
compound, which was the target of a bomb blast on Feb. 3.
The building is located on Jl. Sanjaya, South Jakarta.
"The reconstruction is intended to reconcile witness
statements with the physical evidence found at the blast site,"
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang
said.
The reconstruction, Aritonang said, was based on the
information and testimony of seven witnesses, previously
questioned by investigators.
Police have said the witnesses are Dewi Partogi (from Wisma
Bhayangkari management), Slamet Sutikno (a gardener), Otong Jaya
(a passerby), Entik and Norman (both janitors), Chief Brig.
Kartoyo and Adj. Brig. Indra (police officers on duty at the
time).
The reconstruction took three hours, from 9 a.m. till noon.
However, Aritonang admitted that the police were still in the
dark over the motive as well the identity of the perpetrators.
"Our investigations have yet to lead us to a suspect in this
bombing," he said.
National Police deputy chief of detectives for criminal
affairs Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said on Monday that the
police would likely have difficulty in solving the bomb attack on
the National Police Headquarters due to limited evidence and
witnesses.
Meanwhile, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has
acknowledged that the blast was able to occur due to lax police
security at the headquarters compound and the failure of the
police bomb squad to arrive before the explosion took place.
The police have thus far linked the bomb attack to their
concerted efforts to combat terrorism -- including their current
investigations into suspects in the Bali and Makassar bombings
late last year.
Security concerns in Jakarta were heightened following another
explosion that injured a farmer in Penggilingan, East Jakarta,
last Friday, which police claimed was only a large firecracker,
as well as a hoax bomb warning made by phone to the Police
Headquarters on Sunday.
The police concluded the device used in the Feb. 3 blast was
a low-explosive pipe bomb consisting of explosive black powder
contained inside a 16-centimeter-long, 11-centimeter-diameter
steel pipe. A concrete plug was used at the bottom of the pipe,
while the top was covered by a steel plate wired to a timer and
power supply from a motorcycle battery. Detectives also found
about 130 fragments of steel shrapnel lying around the blast
scene.