The Jakarta Post, January 29, 2003
Ba'asyir blessed Bali bombing: Da'i
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Tuesday that Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
knew and endorsed the Oct. 12 Bali bombing that killed over 190 people and injured
some 300 others.
Da'i's statement was the first direct reference to the cleric's involvement in the Bali
blasts, the biggest attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, when suicide terrorists dove
passenger airplanes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City,
killing over 3,000 people.
The police chief said that investigators arrived at the conclusion after interrogating
suspects of the bombing.
Investigators have arrested a total of 29 suspects in the case, all of them currently in
detention at Bali Police headquarters in Denpasar. Ten people, including three
Malaysians, are on the wanted list.
"The jihad (holy war) operation is reported to have been blessed by the Jamaah
Islamiyah leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," Da'i said in a hearing with the House of
Representatives' Commission I for defense and security affairs here on Tuesday.
Da'i, however, did not immediately say that Ba'asyir had already been declared a
suspect in the terror attacks, nor did he comment on the implications of Ba'asyir's
blessing the attacks. He simply said that his staff were developing and working on the
case.
Ba'asyir, 64, is currently under police custody on treason charges. He has been
accused of plotting to assassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was
still vice president, and of masterminding a string of church bombings on Christmas
Eve in 2000.
Until Tuesday, police had not linked Ba'asyir to the Bali blasts. The Muslim cleric has
denied any wrongdoings and any knowledge of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) or its
operations.
Da'i said that JI, a regional terrorist network, was behind the Bali bombing, which was
apparently planned during a meeting in Bangkok in mid-February 2002. The operation
targeted the interests of the U.S. and its allies in Singapore and Indonesia.
This eventually resulted in targeting and bombing two nightclubs on the resort island
of Bali, which explosion killed mainly foreign tourists, but also many Indonesian
nationals.
Da'i also disclosed that JI leader Ridwan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, financed the
operation with up to US$35,500 in funds directly transferred to Ali Ghufron, alias
Mukhlas, one of the key suspects in the Bali bombing.
The United States and other countries have linked JI, which aims to create a
pan-Southeast Asian Islamic state, to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. The
United Nations put JI on the list of terrorist groups late last year.
Da'i said police found residues of both TNT and the military explosive RDX at both the
Sari Club and Paddy's Bar blast sites, but still could not identify the type of bombs
used.
"Once the bomb-maker is arrested, we will then carry out new tests," Da'i said.
Police said Monday they were hunting a man called Dulmatin, whom they say was
the maker of the bombs used in Bali as well as in other Indonesian cities.
There were speculations in the beginning of the investigation that the bomb was
composed of plastic explosive C4. This speculation was based on the magnitude of
the mushroom cloud resulting from the blasts. During the investigation, however,
police investigators found that a "ball of fire" had resulted from cars that had exploded
in the blasts.
Police investigators submitted the dossier of Amrozi, the first key suspect detained
by police, to state prosecutors, but the file was returned as it was deemed
incomplete.
"The dossier is being improved and is going to be presented to state prosecutors no
later than Feb. 2, 2003," said Da'i, adding that police investigators were preparing the
case files of other key suspects, including Abdul Aziz, alias Imam Samudra, and
Mukhlas.
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