The Jakarta Post, February 13, 2003
Key suspect details how bombings were staged
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
Ali Imron, a key suspect in the Bali bombings, publicly showed on Tuesday how the
horrifying terror attacks were carried out, boasting about his group's bomb-making
skills but apologizing to families of the victims.
He vehemently refuted widespread claims that other parties assisted the bombers in
staging the blasts that killed almost 200 people and injured some 300 others last
October.
"I want the Indonesian people and others to know that the bomb incidents were purely
the work of our group," Imron told a bizarre media conference at Bali Police
Headquarters, Denpasar.
"I swear -- I am a Muslim ... there were no others manipulating or supporting us, as
we have recently heard from the mass media," he added.
The news conference, attended by chief investigator Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku
Pastika and Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Budi Setyawan, sometimes resembled a talk
show with Imron acting more like the host than an alleged mass killer.
The key suspect boasted about his group's prowess in making high-explosive bombs
and then voiced remorse for the Oct. 12 attacks, blamed on the regional Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) terror group.
"The capabilities of our group are something to be proud of as sons of the Indonesian
nation. But the mistake that needs to be highlighted is that we used them for the
wrong purpose," he said before carrying out an on-site reenactment of the three
blasts.
Imron said that during his escape, for three months until his capture in January, he
was annoyed by media reports that highly trained foreigners had been involved in
staging the Bali blasts and that he felt challenged to give details of how he had
produced the carnage.
"I hope there will be no more arguments about who really detonated the Bali bombs
after I give these explanations," he added.
Imron claimed to have learned how to assemble bombs in Afghanistan, where he
joined, what he called, a jihad against Russian troops.
He confirmed the role of another suspect, Malaysian Azahari, in making the Bali
bombs, but described the Malaysian chemistry expert as his "student", whom, he
said, learned bomb-making skills in Afghanistan after Imron had left it.
Imron, who was at the scene minutes before the blasts, said the suspects chose Bali
as they considered it a popular tourist destination for Americans.
"We picked (Bali) to target America and its allies because they are international
terrorists," he said, adding that the aim was to wage a jihad.
At least 88 of the dead victims, mostly Westerners, were from Australia and 26 from
Britain.
Imron, wearing a blue detainee uniform, said plans to trigger the van bomb with a
cellular phone were aborted because Idris, also a key suspect, still at large,
mistakenly took the phone away.
He gave no details of how the blast was actually activated.
Imron said he drove the L-300 van carrying the deadly bomb part of the way to Sari
Club, Jl. Legian, on Oct. 12 and handed the wheel to a man named Arnasan, alias
Iqbal 1, who parked it outside the club.
He said he left on a motorcycle with Idris for Denpasar, where they detonated a bomb
near the U.S. consulate with a mobile phone. That blast caused no casualties.
Chief Bali bombing investigator, Pastika, said after the news conference that only the
consulate bomb had been remotely activated with a cell phone.
Pastika said a blast at the adjacent Paddy's Cafe was caused by TNT inside a jacket
worn by a man identified as Feri, alias Isa or Iqbal-2, apparently a suicide bomber.
Investigators have estimated that the van bomb weighed up to 100 kilograms (kg).
Imron claimed that it weighed over a ton and consisted of a mix of 900 kg of
potassium chlorate, 150 kg of sulfur and 75 kg of aluminum powder.
Yet he declined to comment on RDX, a high explosive alleged to have been used in
the blasts. But sources close to the investigation said the suspects had obtained RDX
from India and the Philippines, and TNT from conflict-torn Ambon in Maluku.
Imron also admitted he was among the six suspects who made the bombs and that
the five others were Azahari and his four accomplices currently being sought by
police, Dul Matin, Abdul Roni, Umar Arab, alias Wayan, and Sarjio, alias Sahwat.
It took nine days to assemble the bombs, Imron added.
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