Bali bomb investigators wait to question cleric

Investigators probing last week’s Bali nightclub bombing said today they are making progress though the authorities still have to interrogate the ailing spiritual leader of a militant group suspected in the attack which left 183 people dead.

Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was arrested yesterday over a spate of church bombings two years ago. The 64-year-old was due to be questioned yesterday morning in relation to the deadly nightclub bombing.

But Bashir had to be taken to hospital with cardiac and breathing problems and is now under police guard, said National Police spokesman General Saleh Saaf.

Indonesian defence minister Matori Abdul Djalil has accused Bashir of being linked to al-Qaida and said that his right-hand man, known as Hambali, was behind many of the country’s terrorist bombings.

Matori stopped short of accusing Bashir of organising the Bali attacks which killed at least 183 people and injured more than 300. But he said that it was logical to believe that Bashir knew about them.

The two men are accused of being leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, believed to be al-Qaida’s main ally in Southeast Asia.

Hambali is accused of arranging a meeting of two of the September 11 hijackers with other al-Qaida figures in Malaysia in January 2000 and of being behind other plots to blow up Western targets in the region.

“Al-Qaida and its internal network is behind this Bali bomb blast,” Matori told a news conference in Bali yesterday, a week after bombs tore through a nightclub district.

“A lot of information and the progress of our intelligence work confirm that Hambali is Abu Bakar Bashir’s vice chairman,” Matori said. “It is illogical if Abu Bakar Bashir says that he doesn’t know about the bombings in Indonesia.”

A team of police doctors was at the hospital today to see if Bashir is healthy enough to travel to Jakarta for questioning.

The Associated Press today reported that Bashir’s doctor said his patient’s health was improving and that he could be released in two or three days. Umar Baradja, Bashir’s brother, said police commanders indicated “he could rest in hospital until Thursday”.

Bashir denies having any part to play in the atrocity, which left around 30 Britons dead – and instead claimed that “Americans hired Indonesians” to carry it out.