LAKSAMANA.Net, November 12, 2003 11:57 PM
Suspect on Trial Over Marriott Bombing
Laksamana.Net - The first suspect in the August 5 bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott
Hotel went on trial in Sumatra on Wednesday (12/11/03) and could face the death
penalty for allegedly storing explosives used in the attack that killed 12 people and
injured 150.
Sardona Siliwangi, who is charged with violating anti-terror legislation, is being tried in
Bengkulu province, where he was arrested two months before a suicide bomber
detonated a car bomb outside the hotel's lobby.
"He was entrusted to store explosive materials which were later used in the Marriott
Hotel bombing, but he did not report them to security authorities," prosecutor
Sudihardjo was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Siliwangi was arrested with five other suspected members of regional terrorism
network Jemaah Islamiyah following a bank robbery in Medan, North Sumatra.
The other alleged radicals are Toni Togar, Idris, Datuk Rajo Ameh, Purwadi and
Mohamed Rais.
Three bank employees were killed during the heist, in which the thieves stole more
than $20,000. Police have said the men carried out the robbery in order to fund a new
terrorist attack.
They had also allegedly been planning to rob another bank, in Pekanbaru, the capital
of neighboring Riau province.
Police later accused Siliwangi of storing some of the explosive materials that were
used in the Marriott bombing, which killed several Indonesian security guards and taxi
drivers.
One foreigner, a Dutch banker, was among the 12 killed in the attack. Indonesians,
Australians, Singaporeans, Americans and New Zealanders were among the 150
injured.
Authorities blamed the bombing on Jemaah Islamiyah, which has also been accused
of responsibility for last year's Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
Siliwangi's trial will resume on Saturday. He is one of 14 suspects arrested over the
bombing.
But two key suspects, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top,
remain at large after narrowly avoiding arrest late last month in Bandung, West Java.
Azahari, a former university professor and explosives expert, is suspected of helping
to assemble the bombs used in the Marriott and Bali attacks, while Noordin allegedly
helped to finance the blasts.
Police have said the two are in possession of several bombs and are likely to try to
use them in further terror attacks.
Soap
Tempo weekly news magazine this week reported that Azahari used dozens of bars of
laundry soap to increase the deadliness of the Marriott bomb.
"The effect would be like a napalm bomb," the magazine quoted an unnamed police
officer as saying.
"Azahari is really expert in mixing low-explosive and high-explosive materials as well
as homemade bombs with extreme explosive power," he added.
Citing confessions from suspected terrorists Tohir and Ismail, who were arrested in
West Java last month, Tempo said they had helped Azahari and Noordin assemble
the Marriott bomb.
The report said the terrorists' first target had been the US Embassy, but it was
considered too difficult to attack so they chose the Marriott instead.
It said the explosives used were left over from Jemaah Islamiyah's Christmas Eve
2000 attacks that left 19 people dead at churches and priests' houses.
Tohir was quoted as saying the soap bars were attached to containers of flammable
liquid placed next to the car-bomb. The combination of sodium and fatty acids in the
soap helped to create fireballs that charred some of the victims.
The vehicle containing the bomb was driven by Asmar Latin Sani, whose head was
blown off and up to the hotel's fifth floor by the force of the blast.
According to Tohir's confession, Azahari detonated the bomb by calling a mobile
phone attached to it. This counters earlier reports that Sani had panicked and
detonated the bomb early.
In addition to providing details of the bombing, Tempo disputed claims made by police
detectives that Azahari and Noordin had escaped because pursuing officers were
afraid the two would blow themselves up in a crowded residential neighborhood.
A police source quoted by the magazine said the two had fled from hideout well before
police surrounded the area.
Some officials have said the two fugitives could now be disguised as beggars,
academics, Muslim clerics or travelers heading home for the holy fasting month of
Ramadhan.
But National Police chief General Dai Bachtiar on Wednesday claimed that police had
identified the men's hideouts and were simply waiting for the right time to capture
them.
However, he warned that another two key suspected terrorists, Zulkarnaen and
Dulmatin, remain at large.
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