Tehran Times, November 4, 2004
Indonesia deploys 3,000 police as net closes on Malaysian bomb
suspects
JAKARTA (AFP) -- Indonesia has deployed 3,000 police in its West Java province
where two Malaysians wanted over the Bali bombings and other attacks are believed
to be hiding, a report said Wednesday.
National police chief General Da'i Bactiar said police were closing in on Azahari Husin
and Noordin Mohammad Top after clues were found following an explosion at a
boarding house in the West Java town of Sukubumi last month.
"We strongly suspect that the two suspected terrorist are hiding in the western or
southern parts of West Java," Bachtiar during a visit to the staunchly Muslim region,
according to the Jakarta Post daily.
Azahari and Top are suspected of key roles in the October 2002 Bali blasts that killed
202 people as well as a deadly attack on the Jakarta Marriott hotel in August last
year and the recent Australian Embassy bombing in which 11 died.
All three attacks have been blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
regional terrorist group. Detectives say the organization could be planning further
attacks.
Police say traces of TNT explosives were found inside the Sukubumi house. Four
individuals who had been occupying the room fled before the arrival of the police.
Stepping up efforts to tackle terrorism was a key election pledge of new President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
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