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.