- Indonesia TV identifies Jakarta hotel bombing suspect
- Indonesian police try to rebuild bomber's face
- Indonesian police: Explosives 'identical' to Bali
- JP: Invesment risk may increase after bombings
- JP: Family of alleged suicide bomber avoid press
- JP: Colleagues doubt Bahrudin's involvement in Jakarta bombings
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Indonesia TV identifies Jakarta hotel bombing suspect
By Telly Nathalia
JAKARTA, July 20 (Reuters) - An Indonesian television station on
Monday named a likely suspect in the suicide bombings of two
luxury hotels in Jakarta, saying he had school links to members
of the radical Islamic group Jemaah Islamiah. Police are still
investigating Friday's attacks on the JW Marriott and
Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's main business district which
killed nine people and injured 53, including foreigners and
Indonesians. Jemaah Islamiah is a prime suspect.
So far, the police have only identified one of the attackers as
"N" but have not given further details.
But MetroTV, a private station, went further and named a suspect
as a man named Nurhasbi whose family said he had not returned
home and they had been unable to contact him by telephone.
The family also said Nurhasbi had attended the Ngruki Islamic
boarding school in Solo, Central Java, graduating in 1995.
Ngruki is the Islamic boarding school run by militant cleric Abu
Bakar Bashir and attended by several members of Jemaah Islamiah,
the group responsible for a string of deadly attacks in Jakarta
and on the resort island of Bali.
Local media reported that the police had also visited Nurhasbi's
family, possibly to assist in DNA tests as they try to identify
bodies at the scene of the blasts.
The two bombs ended a four-year lull in such acts of violence
and carried the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, security analysts
and police said, in particular of a breakaway faction led by
Malaysian extremist Noordin Top.
The method and the equipment used were the same as in the Bali
attacks in 2002 and 2005, and the bomb equipment used was
similar to some that the police recently found during raids in
Cilacap, Central Java, the police said.
Top has been blamed for previous attacks on foreigners and
Western targets such as bars and hotels. Police have said that
Friday's bombers checked in to the Marriott as paying guests on
Wednesday and had assembled the bombs in their room. A third
bomb was found and defused in a laptop computer bag in room
1808. (Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by Nick Macfie)
-------------------------
Indonesian police try to rebuild bomber's face
Presi Mandari
Indonesian police Monday were trying to rebuild the face on a
severed head found at the scene of deadly hotel blasts in
Jakarta in an attempt to identify one of two suspected suicide
bombers.
The grisly forensic work could provide a key breakthrough in the
investigation into Friday's twin suicide attacks on the luxury
JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed up to nine
people including two militants.
One of the bombers apparently targeted a regular weekly
breakfast gathering of Western businessmen at the Marriott,
killing three Australians including a diplomat, and a company
executive from New Zealand.
More than 53 people were injured in the blasts, which officials
suspect were the work of regional Islamist network Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), responsible for the 2002 Bali attacks and dozens
of other bombings since the late 1990s.
Jemaah Islamiyah draws inspiration from Al-Qaeda and has had
extensive links with global jihadists as it seeks to create an
Islamic caliphate spanning much of Southeast Asia including
Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines.
Police said an unexploded bomb left in a guest room of the JW
Marriott resembled devices used in the Bali bombings, which
killed 202 people, and one discovered in a recent anti-JI raid
on an Islamic school in Central Java.
"They are from the same school. We found similar materials,
similar tools, a similar method. That's their job, that's the
same network, they are JI," national police spokesman Nanan
Soekarna told a press conference Sunday.
He said investigators were reconstructing the mangled face on a
head found at one of the hotels, with a view to creating an
image that could be shown to witnesses.
Police say nine people were killed and 53 injured in the
attacks. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on Saturday put the
death toll at eight.
Security has been tightened at hotels and resorts across the
vast, mainly Muslim archipelago of 234 million people, including
the eastern resort island of Bali, which is usually packed with
foreign tourists, especially Australians.
Australia issued a travel advisory urging citizens to reconsider
travelling to the country and warning that more extremist
attacks are possible.
"There is a possibility of further terrorist attacks in Jakarta
and elsewhere in Indonesia, including Bali," it said in the
updated advisory.
Investigators say the bombers stayed in Room 1808 of the
Marriott for two nights before the attacks and disguised
themselves as guests when they walked into crowded dining and
meeting areas and detonated their suitcase devices.
The bombs were brought into the neighbouring hotels despite
airport-style security measures put in place after the 2002 Bali
attacks.
A report in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Monday
suggested the Marriott bomber was very deliberate about his
target -- the weekly business breakfast which attracted some of
Jakarta's most influential foreigners.
It said the Marriott bomber was a man wearing a backback on his
chest and dragging a suitcase who was caught by security cameras
entering the dining area shortly before the blast, although
police have not confirmed this.
A security guard asked him where he was going and the man, who
looked Indonesian, replied that he was going to meet his boss.
"I want to deliver what my boss ordered," the man reportedly
said.
Senior Indonesian anti-terrorist officials have said the attacks
look like the work of fugitive Malaysian-born extremist Noordin
Mohammed Top, who leads a violent splinter faction of JI.
One of Asia's most wanted men, Noordin is accused of
masterminding bombings at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003, the
Australian embassy in 2004 and Bali restaurants in 2005, which
killed more than 40 people.
------------------------
Indonesian police: Explosives 'identical' to Bali
By IRWAN FIRDAUS (AP)
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Explosive material recovered from the scene
of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is
"identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist
network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said.
An unexploded bomb left in a room of the J.W. Marriott in
Jakarta resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found
in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding
school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news
conference Sunday.
The culprits in Friday's attacks that killed nine and wounded 50
are believed to have belonged to Jemaah Islamiyah "because there
are similarities in the bombs used," Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna
said.
Anti-terrorism police were hunting for Noordin Mohammad Top, a
fugitive Malaysian who heads a particularly violent offshoot of
the network and has been linked to four major strikes in
Indonesia since 2002.
The twin suicide bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton
hotels came four years after the last serious terrorist attack
in Indonesia and unleashed a new wave of anxiety in the world's
largest Muslim-majority country.
Indonesia had been enjoying a period of stability, and President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected to a second term earlier
this month, partly on the strength of government efforts to
fight terrorism.
"I am shocked by these bombings," Razif Harahap, a 45-year-old
graduate student, said in Jakarta on Sunday. "The same people
who carried out these attacks could launch another one, because
the mastermind is still at large."
The latest attacks killed seven, plus the two attackers, and
wounded 50, many of them foreigners.
Investigators have been examining body parts and other forensic
evidence in an attempt to identify the two bombers, one of whom
is believed to be Indonesian.
They were decapitated in the explosions, and confirming their
identity could help determine if they had links to Noordin.
The official Antara news agency said Sunday that the government
was intensifying efforts to find Noordin and trace the network's
finances to try to uncover any links to Friday's blasts.
Officials have identified five of the dead — three Australians,
one New Zealander and one Indonesian.
Among the dead was Craig Senger, the first Australian government
official to be killed in a terrorist attack, Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd said Sunday. Senger worked as a Trade Commission
officer at the embassy in Jakarta.
Officials said 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including
eight Americans and citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong
Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.
Jemaah Islamiyah rose to prominence after the 2002 nightclub
bombings in the beach resort of Bali that killed 202 people,
most of them foreigners.
It staged attacks in Indonesia in each of the next three years:
a 2003 car bombing outside the J.W. Marriott hotel, a 2004 truck
bombing outside the Australian Embassy, and triple suicide
bombings on Bali restaurants by attackers carrying bombs in
backpacks in 2005.
After the government launched a massive anti-terrorism campaign,
no major attacks had been reported since then — until Friday's
explosions.
Remnants of the bombs found outside the hotels had circuits that
were "identical" to those in explosive devices used in previous
attacks on Bali, the national police spokesman said Sunday.
Police were also looking for connections between Friday's
bombing and explosives discovered last week in the Cilacap
region of Central Java, which were buried in a garden at the
house of Noordin's father-in-law, who is also at large.
While the attacks rekindled old anxieties, Indonesians
interviewed Sunday said they did not believe the bombings
signaled a resurgence by the militants, who want to establish an
Islamic state in the region.
The Islamist extremists enjoy little support among the country's
largely moderate public.
The terrorists do not have the money or backing to launch
another major attack soon, said Agus Triharso, 40, a motorbike
taxi driver in Jakarta.
"Noordin Top and his friends have support from just a few
hard-line Muslims," Triharso said. "As Muslims, we have to stop
them."
-----------------------
The Jakarta Post [website]
Monday, July 20, 2009
Invesment risk may increase after bombings
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia’s investment risk could increase following the bomb
blasts at the JW Marriot and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Kuningan,
South Jakarta, an analyst has said.
Indonesian Stock Analyst Association secretary-general Haryajid
Ramelan said on the weekend that investors would now wait and
see because of uncertainty in the market after the bombings,
kompas.com reported.
However, Haryajid was optimistic that the government would be
able to restore market confidence quickly.
"Confidence will return as long as the government could convince
investors that the bomb blasts were purely terrorist attacks and
not related to domestic politics," he said.
“The government must also be quick to find the terror mastermind
and punish him."
Haryajid also said the government must be able to show that the
recent election was free, just and fair.
-----------------------
The Jakarta Post [website] Monday, July 20, 2009
Family of alleged suicide bomber avoid press
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The family of alleged suicide bomber Nur Hasby in Ngadirejo,
Central Java, have yet to speak to the press.
As of 9 a.m., Nur Hasby's father, Muh Nasir, had remained
indoors, Kompas.com reported.
Nur Hasby is the third child of Muh Nasir, who works as a
farmer. According to the report, Nur Hasby lived in Semarang,
but since 2004 had not been in contact with his family.
Neighbors said they still did not understand why Nur Hasby,
regarded as a kind person, would have become a suicide bomber or
be linked to the Friday attacks on the JW Marriot and
Ritz-Carlton hotels.
----------------------------
The Jakarta Post [website] Monday, July 20, 2009
Colleagues doubt Bahrudin's involvement in Jakarta bombings
The Jakarta Post
Colleagues doubt Bahrudin's involvement in Jakarta bombings
Colleagues have doubted that Bahrudin Latif, the owner of the
Al-Muaddib Islamic boarding school in Cilacap, Central Java, was
involved in the Friday bombing of the JW Marriot and
Ritz-Carlton hotels.
"He manages the Islamic boarding school every day, so I don't
believe he was involved in the bombings." Al-Muaddib Foundation
leader Mahfudz said as quoted by Antara news agency on Sunday.
Although police found bomb materials in the backyard of
Bahrudin's home, Mahfudz said he still could not accept the
allegations.
"He really pays attention to the school. The school suffers Rp
2.5 million (US$2,500) in losses every month and he always tries
to cover it. It's very unlikely he has more money to buy bomb
materials."
Mahfudz said he knew Bahrudin fairly well but did not know all
of his family members such as Bahruddin's son-in-law.
A student, Zaenab, said people had stopped enrolling at
Al-Muaddib Islamic boarding school following the recent media
coverage about the school.
"We are only taught Arabic language and religious teachings
here," Zaenab said. "I didn't know the owner was allegedly
involved in terrorism."
Police raided Bahrudin's home on June 23, and had found bomb
materials in the backyard of his home. Bahrudin fled a few days
before the raid.
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