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Thursday July 3, 2:38 PMIndonesia anti-terror unit brings suspects to capitalJAKARTA, July 3 (Reuters) - Heavily armed Indonesian anti-terrorism police escorted nine suspects on a transport plane to the capital Jakarta for interrogation on Thursday after raids on the island of Sumatra found a large cache of bombs.The nine, including a Singaporean, were detained in Palembang, 425 km (260 miles) from Jakarta, and in other areas in South Sumatra province on Tuesday and Wednesday, said a police source, who declined to be identified. Another police source, involved in the raids, said the suspects appeared to be linked to Noordin Mohamad Top, who is wanted over some of the deadliest attacks in Indonesia by regional militant Islamic network Jemaah Islamiah (JI). "I think they've got a couple of big fishes," said Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based analyst with the International Crisis Group. She said, however, that she did not think the suspects included either Noordin Top or Mas Selamat bin Kastari, a senior JI member who escaped from a Singapore prison in February. The 20 bombs found appeared to be more sophisticated than some used by militants previously in Indonesia, with 16 ready to use and some packed with ball bearings, a third police source said, again declining to be identified. Asked about potential bomb targets or whether the suspects might have been looking at attacking Westerners, the first police source said: "It is too early for us to conclude." The hooded and shackled suspects were flown to the Halim airbase in Jakarta on Thursday. TRAINED IN AFGHANISTAN Kompas newspaper, which reported that the bombs were found in the ceiling of a house in Palembang, said police believed the group had considered attacking an undisclosed location in Sumatra popular with holidaymakers last July before dropping the plan. The Singaporean suspect went by a series of aliases, including Abu Hazam, and had trained in Afghanistan, where he was believed to have met Osama bin Laden, the paper reported. More explosives and other electronic devices had also been found in Sekayu, about 105 km (65 miles) from Palembang, the third police source said. One of the suspects was also believed to be a close friend of Azahari Husin, a Malaysian bombmaker for JI who is thought to have played key roles in attacks in Indonesia and died in a police raid in East Java in 2005, the source added. JI carried out a string of deadly attacks in recent years in Indonesia, including the 2002 nightclub bombings on the island of Bali, which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. There have also been a number of deadly bombings against Western targets in the capital Jakarta, although there has been no major attack in Indonesia for more than two years. A series of raids, often involving Detachment 88, a police unit funded and trained by the United States and Australia, have led to the arrest of hundreds of militant suspects. In addition, some experts say mainstream members of JI felt the violence was hurting their cause and had caused the deaths of Muslims, resulting in splinter groups forming around figures such as Noordin Top still backing more violent methods. Jones of the International Crisis Group said that there was little knowledge on militant groups operating from Sumatra. "People know a lot more about where the networks work and how they operate but the knowledge about the network in Sumatra is much more limited," she said. (Additional reporting by Ed Davies; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) |
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