Police suspect C4 used in Medan supermarket bomb

P.C. Naommy and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There were strong indications the bomb found at a shopping mall in Medan, North Sumatra last week contained the C4 plastic explosive, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Thursday.

"There are indications of C4, but we are not certain yet. We are sure it was a highly explosive bomb," Da'i said at the inauguration of Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono as the new national police chief of detectives.

Da'i said the presence of the military-issued C4 explosive in the bomb had prompted the government to involve the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the investigation.

"We invited them to help because they have expertise in dealing with C4 and so we could trace the purchase of the materials," Da'i said.

A bomb package, consisting of five-sticks of M-112 explosives linked with detonators, was found at the deposit counter of the Macan Yaohan supermarket in Medan, North Sumatra last week.

The discovery took place just two days before the legislative campaign kicked off on March 11, raising fears a group was planning to use terror to disrupt the election process.

The explosive was quickly detonated. The police have suggested it could have been planted by the Free Aceh Movement or Malaysian Dr. Azahari's Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist cell.

Azahari and another Malaysian, Noordin Mohd Top, both still at large, are believed to have made bombs for the deadly Bali bombing on Oct. 12, 2002 and the Marriot Hotel bombing on Aug. 5, last year. The two bombs killed more than 200 people.

The two men are accused of being members of regional terrorist network JI, which is linked to Osama bin Laden's international terrorist network al-Qaeda.

The FBI arrived in Medan, North Sumatra on Wednesday to help Indonesia investigate the bomb.

"They will only help us study the bomb, and we could also ask for help from other countries," Da'i said. The team would remain working here for sometime he said.

Since the Bali bombing, Indonesia has cooperated with other countries in fighting international terrorism, notably the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the FBI, which have actively supported the country with their forensic expertise.

"We need FBI's help in the Medan bomb case as there are some things that we need to unravel," Da'i said.