Police suspect C4 used in Medan supermarket bomb
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.