Police to release photos of 10 suspects

Police to release photos of 10 suspects

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar/Makassar

Police investigating the Bali bombing that killed nearly 200
people and injured some 300 others, said on Thursday that they
would soon make public the identities of 10 suspects, including
Imam Samudra, who has been blamed for masterminding the deadly
Oct. 12 blast.

"We will release all the details of the suspects on Sunday,
including their backgrounds and photographs, and put them on the
wanted list so the public can help us capture them," said Brig.
Gen. Edward Aritonang, spokesman for the multinational team
hunting down the bombers.

He said the 10 suspects were all Indonesians and were
"possibly still hiding somewhere in the country", adding that the
probe so far had been focused on Indonesia itself.

"But we have also sent personnel in collaboration with
Interpol to a number of other countries that, according to
Amrozi, he has visited," Aritonang said.

More than one month after the explosion, police investigators
have only Amrozi in custody. Amrozi admitted planning the attack
on the resort island but denied assembling the huge bomb.

During a meeting with National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar
on Wednesday, Amrozi, 40, named Imam Samudra as one of the
masterminds of the blast.

Aritonang insisted that Samudra played a central role in
planning and executing the bombings. "He is a 38-year-old from
West Java, and an engineer," Aritonang told The Jakarta Post in
Denpasar, Bali, without elaborating further.

Reports had earlier said Samudra was born in Bogor, West Java.
He lived for a long time in Malaysia, where he married a
Malaysian wife.

It remains unclear, however, whether Samudra, known under
several aliases as Kudama, Fatih, Abdul Aziz and Abu Umar, has
bomb-making expertise or not.

Samudra has been on the police wanted list for his alleged
involvement in the Christmas bombings across Indonesia in 2000.
His name also came up during the police investigation into
military training being conducted in Pandeglang, West Java, two
years ago.

Samudra, along with Hambali, a suspected member of Jama'ah
Islamiyah (JI), has also been implicated in the Atrium explosion
in Jakarta in 2001.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda has branded
Samudra and Hambali as members of JI, a regional organization the
United Nations recently put on its list of terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Amien
Rais called on Thursday for a reconstruction of the bombing
operation in Bali so as to dispel any controversy over the arrest
of Amrozi.

"As an ordinary person, I hope everything will be carried out
transparently and that all discrepancies are avoided. I therefore
suggest that the best possible solution would be for Amrozi and
his accomplices to reconstruct the bombing to verify whether they
are capable of making such a horrifying bomb," Amien said.

If the suspects were proven to be capable of building a bomb
similar to that which exploded in Bali, they must be sentenced to
death, he said.

"If necessary, he (Amrozi) must be hanged directly or shot
dead ... so that the problem can soon be settled," Amien added.

Amrozi visited Malaysia three times, initially to work as a
laborer. It was there and back home that he fell under the
influence of radical Islamic preachers, including elderly cleric
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, according to investigators.

They say Amrozi's elder brother Mukhlas, also known as Ali
Gufron, was the first man to steer him along the path of
religious militancy.

But Aritonang said the police had so far no information that
Mukhlas was involved in the bombing. "So far, we only see him as
an idol and inspiration for Amrozi in religious matters."

Amrozi had also visited Singapore and Thailand. Da'i Bachtiar
said Amrozi had also fought in Afghanistan against Russian
troops.