The Jakarta Post, 6/6/2006 4:01:32 PM
Defendant says arrested militant was a mastermind of Bali blast
BALI (AP): A defendant accused of involvement in last year's bombings at three
crowded restaurants on Indonesia's resort island of Bali told a court Tuesday that a
militant arrested earlier this year was one of the masterminds.
Anif Solchanudin, 24, one of four suspects being tried separately at Bali's Denpasar
District Court, also said he had offered to be one of the three suicide bombers in the
Oct. 1attacks that killed 20 people, but had been rejected.
Anif testified that he had been a member since 2002 of an Islamic study group led by
Subur Sugiarto, a militant arrested in January.
"I was a student of Subur who was a mastermind of the Bali bombings," Anif told the
court.
Police believe Subur was a key aide of Malaysian fugitive Noordin Mohammad Top, a
suspected key leader of the al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah who is accused
of organizing a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia.
"I even offered to Subur to become a suicide bomber, but Subur asked me to find
three other people instead," Anif told the court, adding that he had been unable to find
anyone else to carry out the attacks. He said Subur had not given a reason forhis
rejection.
"I wanted to be a suicide bomber because I learned from the studies that Muslims are
always victims of oppression by America and its allies," he said.
Anif said he also had learned that "a martyr's sins will be forgiven and he will be
greeted by 72 angels" after death.
The other three defendants being tried are Dwi Widianto, 30, Mohammad Cholily, 28,
and Abdul Azis, 30.
Anif made his comments Tuesday while testifying as a witness at the trial of Azis.
He said he had met Azis just once in Central Java before the bombing and saw a man
give Azis a video compact disc. He did not know what was on the VCD, he said.
Last week, Widianto testified that Noordin had masterminded the Bali attacks. He
said Noordin arranged the bombings by distributing instructions on a VCD. (**)
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
