The Jakarta Post, 10/11/2005 3:49:22 PM
Police make first arrest in Bali blast probe
DENPASAR, Bali (Agencies): Police have made their first arrest over this month's
suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali, picking up a man in East Java
suspected of links to the attacks, police said on Tuesday.
Three suicide bombers killed 20 people when they strolled into separate restaurants
on Oct. 1 and detonated backpacks laden with explosives. Around 150 people were
wounded.
"This person is strongly suspected of having links with the Bali blasts," deputy
national police spokesman Soenarko Ardanto told a news conference on the island.
Ardanto said the man, a construction worker identified only by his initials HS, was
arrested in the East Java provincial town of Jember on Sunday. He was brought to Bali
on Monday.
"The arrest was made under the terrorism act and police have seven days to detain
him for questioning in relation to the bombings," Ardanto said.
It was not clear whether the man is believed to have been directly involved in the
attacks on crowded restaurants, which killed 20 people plus the three bombers.
The spokesman declined to comment on reports that the man might have shared a
room with one of the bombers, or give other details. East Java lies adjacent to Bali.
The attacks killed 15 Indonesians, four Australians and one Japanese. They came
just days before the third anniversary of the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts that killed 202
people, mainly foreign tourists. That anniversary falls on Wednesday. (**)
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