Indonesian terror suspects arrested with homemade bombs
Police say the cell is linked to Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammad Top, a Jemaah Islamiyah group leader wanted for allegedly masterminding the 2002 Bali bombing.
They were arrested this week in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, where Australian and US-trained anti-terror police also found more than 20 bombs in a house.
“In Palembang we have arrested members of a terrorist network... There is a relation between the Palembang group and the Central Java group which means there is a relation between them and Noordin Top,” police spokesman Abu Bakar Nataprawira said.
Top is seen as a key leader of the most radical wing of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has staged attacks in Indonesia and the Philippines, including Bali and the bombing in 2003 of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta.
More than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, died in the Bali attacks, while 12 were killed in Jakarta.
One of those arrested is a bombmaker who reportedly met Osama bin Laden and is associated with Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the suspected leader of Jemaah Islamiyah in Singapore who escaped from prison last February.
A local newspaper said the suspect, identified as MH, 35, met Bin Laden several times and trained in Afghanistan.
“The suspect gave training in assembling bombs to people in Palembang related to terrorist acts in Indonesia,” Nataprawira said.
His arrest led to the detention of nine other suspects in a house raid, where the bombs were discovered.
Six powerful tupperware bombs and 16 pipe bombs were found, along with bomb-making chemicals and weapons. Ten bombs were primed to explode.
Computer hard drives were also found which could yield intelligence on terrorist cells in the region.
“It looks like this (police operation) is fairly significant and it could be very significant depending on what they find on those computers,” Singapore-based terrorism analyst Dr John Harrison said.
He said the group only assembled bombs when they were ready to strike and the bombs were designed to “cause mass casualties.”
Police gave no details about the group’s alleged plans. The local Kompas newspaper reported that MH had confessed to planning an attack on a tourist destination on Sumatra.
Nine suspects were flown from Sumatra to Jakarta amid tight security early yesterday. The men arrived wearing balaclavas, blindfolds and handcuffs.
One wore a T-shirt with a logo that said “Suicide”.
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