The Jakarta Post, 5/8/2006 11:56:33 AM
Police arrest five suspected terrorists in Central Sulawesi
PALU, Central Sulawesi (AP): Indonesian police are questioning five men arrested on
Indonesia's Sulawesi Island over possible links to terrorism, officials said Monday.
Central Sulawesi police chief Brig. Gen. Oegroseno said two of the five confessed
they have links with Noordin M. Top, regarded as a key leader of the al-Qaeda-linked
group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).
He said the five men were arrested by a special anti-terror unit late Friday in Tolitoli
regency of Central Sulawesi province. They were being questioned in Palu, the capital
of the province.
"We will send them to Jakarta's national police headquarters for further investigation,"
said Oegroseno.
He said the two who confessed said they helped Noordin hide from police in
Semarang, Central Java. He declined to reveal their identity, but said they were food
vendors who came from Java three months ago.
Indonesia has arrested scores of militants belonging to the JI terror group in recent
years.
JI has been blamed for a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia in recent years,
including two separate strikes on the tourist island of Bali.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, was hit by suicide bombings on
the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2004 that together killed 220 people, and attacks
in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004 that left 21 dead.
The government has arrested and convicted hundreds on terrorism charges, but
Noordin remains on the run. (***)
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