Samudra recruited 'martyr bombers': Witness

Samudra recruited 'martyr bombers': Witness

Justin Hale, Associated Press, Denpasar, Bali

The alleged mastermind of last year's nightclub bombings on Bali island tried to recruit five men to be suicide bombers, a witness told a court Wednesday.

One of the five, a man identified as Iqbal, later agreed to the offer from Imam Samudra, the court heard. The other four apparently declined to become "martyr bombers."

"He asked us whether we were ready to become "martyr bombers," the witness, Andi Hidayat said. "I said I was not up to it." Iqbal's body parts were recovered from the ruins of the Bali attacks. The Oct. 12 attacks on two nightclubs killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

While suicide bombings are common in the Middle East, police believe Iqbal was the first such instance in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Since then, police recovered body parts of another suspected suicide bomber identified as Asmar Latin Sani after a deadly blast at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta on Aug. 5.

Both attacks are blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist network affiliated with al-Qaida.

Al-Qaida's alleged point man in Southeast Asia and Jamaah Islamiyah operations chief, an Indonesian known as Hambali, was arrested on Aug. 11 in Thailand. He is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location, where he is being interrogated over his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On Wednesday, three Indonesian police left Jakarta to question Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, for his links in the Bali and Jakarta blasts, said national police spokesman Col. Zainuri Lubis.

In Bali, Hidayat, who is accused of robbing a jewelry shop to help fund the Bali blasts, was testifying at the trial of Ali Imron, another key defendant.

On Aug 7, the court issued the first conviction in the Bali case, sentencing Amrozi bin Nurhasyim - Imron's older brother - to death.

In earlier trials, Imron's testimony placed a number of key suspects at planning sessions that preceded the attack. All the men, who prosecutors say have admitted playing a role in the attacks, face the death penalty if found guilty under newly passed anti-terror laws.

Imron also told the court he had sewn explosives into a vest worn by Iqbal, the suspected suicide bomber, that detonated at Paddy's night club, killing eight people.

Seconds later, a much-bigger bomb went off in a vehicle parked in front of Sari's Club. Many of those killed were fleeing the initial bomb.

In Jakarta, police said Tuesday that they were hunting for the leader of an elite cell of militants under Jemaah Islamiyah. Media reports have said this cell comprises Indonesian suicide bombers.

Chief of police detective Lt. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said the group, called Laskar Khos, had recruited militants from among some 300 Indonesians who trained in the past in Afghanistan and the Philippines.