Eight prime suspects in Bali massacre - police

A group of eight people are the prime suspects in the Bali nightclub bombing that killed almost 200 people, police in the tropical resort said today.

The eight, which includes seven Indonesians and one foreigner, are being “intensively questioned”. None of them were identified.

As the investigation continued, Australian Prime Minister John Howard vowed to do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice.

His foreign minister had earlier urged Australians to leave Indonesia, saying officials had received “disturbing” new information about threats to Westerners in several Southeast Asian countries.

Minutes before Alexander Downing’s warning, two bombs tore through the lunchtime crowds in Zamboanga, a city in the southern Philippines – one of the countries on the list. Six people were killed and 150 wounded.

Filipino president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo condemned it as a terrorist attack and police blamed Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group that had so far concentrated on kidnapping for ransoms.

Meanwhile, police in Malaysia said they believe a Malaysian with bomb-making skills could have been involved in the Bali massacre.

Azahari Husin, a 45-year-old member of Jemaah Islamiyah – the militant group widely blamed for Saturday’s attack – is thought to have fled to Indonesia from Malaysia when authorities there began arresting extremists after the September 11 attacks in America.

“Azahari is well trained in all types of bombs, especially remote-controlled explosives. He has experience in handling large amounts of explosives,” a senior Malaysian official said today. “(He) is likely to have had a hand about the bombing.”

An Indonesian cleric and one-time leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, Riduan Isamudin, also known as Hambali, may have been involved in the attack too, he said.

Hambali is accused of arranging a meeting between two of the September 11 hijackers and al-Qaida operatives in Malaysia in January 2000.

The whereabouts of both are unknown, and there was no indication they were among the eight suspects held by the Indonesian police.

Still at large in Indonesia is Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Fearing a backlash by their followers, the Jakarta government has so far been reluctant to crackdown on the leaders of the group, which is accused of plotting to blow up Western targets – including the British High Commission – in Singapore earlier this year.