The Jakarta Post, May 02, 2006
Police squad seizes powerful bomb
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A National Police counterterror squad has discovered a powerful bomb almost
identical to ones believed to have been used in the second Bali bombings that killed
23 people in October last year.
The bomb was found Sunday night inside a house in Jatiwungu village in Temanggung
regency, Central Java, following a tipoff from two militants arrested after a weekend
raid on their hideout, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said
Monday.
"The bomb was active," Anton said at his office. "All the materials used for the bomb
were exactly the same as those used in the second Bali bombing. And so is the
method of how the bomb was prepared."
Anton said the bomb was packed in a traveler's bag similar to the ones carried by
bombers who struck in Kuta last year.
A police forensics report on the latest Bali blasts said the chemicals used in the
bombings were TNT (trinitroluene), PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate), chlorate and
sulfur. At the bomb site in Kuta, police also found hundreds of iron pellets.
Anton said the two terror suspects -- Sholahuddin and Mustaghfirin -- told police about
the bomb during interrogation sessions. The pair were arrested in Saturday's predawn
raid on a house in Wonosobo, Central Java. Two other militants were killed in the raid.
Police believe the two surviving men are connected to the al-Qaeda-linked terror group
Jamaah Islamiyah.
"It is possible that the investigations by the counterterror squad will lead to further
developments in this case," Anton said.
Police were maintaining checkpoints at Central Java border areas to capture one of
Asia's most wanted-terror suspects, Noordin M. Top, he said.
"We hope that the investigators will be tipped off again of by information from citizens,
like what happened in Wonosobo."
Anton said the Saturday raid in Wonosobo occurred after close cooperation between
local residents and the authorities.
Police confiscated two firearms, several laptop computers, a desktop PC, nine cellular
phone cards, several bags, a detonator and stacks of documents during the raid.
"Some of the documents contain copies of statements by the previous suicide
bombers explaining the reasons why they did what they did," Anton said.
He said the group probably was planning to use the statements as propaganda for
recruitment purposes.
Last November, police discovered video recordings containing statements believed to
be from three suicide bombers who carried out the 2005 Bali attacks, which killed 23
people.
In the video, a person who identified himself as Salik Firdaus told his family he loved
them and said when they saw this tape, he would already be in heaven.
Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla later played the tape to Muslim leaders at his
office on Nov. 16.(04)
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