The Jakarta Post, February 13, 2003
Bali blast suspect demonstrates how bomb assembled
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
A key suspect in the October attack in Bali demonstrated to police how the bombs
were made from a mixture of chemicals and explosive materials, and how the
bombers planned the attack that left at least 190 people dead.
In a reconstruction of the crime on Tuesday, suspect Ali Imron showed how the
bombs were assembled and provided details of the attack.
According to the suspect, the attack did not go entirely as planned and the final
moments before the blasts remain unclear. One of the two suspects who detonated
the bombs is believed to have died in the explosions and the other is still at large.
Three bombs were used for the attack: one near the American consulate in Denpasar
and the other two at crowded nightclubs along a tourist strip in Kuta.
The first bomb exploded in Paddy's Cafe on Jl. Legian in Kuta. Ali said that bomb
consisted of six 25-centimeter-long plastic tubes, each filled with four kilograms of
TNT.
The tubes were stuffed into a vest, which must have weighed about 24 kilograms when
the bomber walked into the cafe and killed eight people, including himself. It remains
unclear whether this was a suicide attack, which is the belief of the police, or whether
the bomb simply went off prematurely.
The biggest blast was the explosion outside the Sari Club, located across from
Paddy's. Here at least 182 people died, many of them foreign tourists.
Between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, suspects Ali, Abdul Goni, Umar Patek and Syawad are
believed to have assembled the Sari Club bomb inside a rented house in Denpasar.
The bomb's main ingredients were 900 kilograms of potassium chlorate, a type of
fertilizer that is often used in fish bombs; 75 kilograms of aluminum powder; and 150
kilograms of sulfur.
The chemicals were mixed into a black powder and then placed inside 48 plastic
cabinets. Each cabinet was connected with a 150-meter-long detonator cord. Every
10 centimeters of the cord contained one gram of the explosive pentaerythritol trinitrat
(PETN). In addition to the cord, the bombers also used 94 detonators containing 279
grams of the explosive material RDX.
As a booster, they used 25 kilograms of TNT, which was put inside a separate plastic
cabinet.
A remote detonator was assembled with three options to detonate the bomb: either
through a cellular phone, a timer set for 45 minutes or with a switch to detonate the
bomb immediately. Tampering with the remote detonator would also have triggered the
bomb.
Malaysian suspect Asahari, who remains at large, is believed to have assembled the
detonators. The Sari Club bomb was then loaded into a Mitsubishi L-300 van.
The bomb near the U.S. consulate exploded seconds after the Sari Club bomb,
causing no casualties. Ali said this bomb was assembled by filling a plastic box,
which measured 25 centimeters in height and 15 centimeters in width, with TNT.
He said the bomb was detonated as planned via a cellular phone call. However, he
could not say who and what detonated the bomb outside the Sari Club.
Ali was inside the L-300 along with two other suspects who he identified as Jimmy
and Iqbal, as the three moved the bomb into position outside the Sari Club.
Ali got out of the van before it arrived at the club, and he returned to the rented house
with suspect Idris, who was following the van on a motorbike.
Jimmy was supposed to detonate the Sari Club bomb via a cellular phone, but Ali
realized too late that he took the cellular phone with him when he got out of the van.
Ali said the bomb exploded before the 45 minutes on the timer had elapsed, which
meant the bomb had been detonated by someone who pressed the switch or by
someone who tried to open the remote detonator.
Witnesses said the Mitsubishi van was parked outside the Sari Club. The 1.25 tons of
black powder, 25 kilograms of TNT, 1.5 kilograms of PETN and 279 grams of RDX
literally blew the van to pieces. It also left a five-meter wide and 70-centimeter deep
crater beneath the van.
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