Police arrest Bali bomb 'suspect'

Indonesian police have arrested a man matching the composite sketch of a suspect wanted for the Bali nightclub bombings that killed nearly 200 people, it was announced today.

National Police spokesman Col Prasetyo said investigators detained the 28-year-old man, identified only as Zulfan, in North Sumatra yesterday. He was picked up for using a fake identity card, but police said he also resembled one of the suspected bombers.

The arrest came after investigators announced they had a number of promising leads in the case, and expressed confidence that the probe into the October 12 attacks was making progress.

In Bali, Brig Gen Edward Aritonang said investigators had determined the identities of three suspects in the bombings. He refused to release any names, but said detectives believed the three were “low-level operatives”.

It was not immediately clear whether Zulfan was one of them. On Thursday, police arrested another man because he resembled one of the sketches, but later released him after deciding it was a case of mistaken identity.

About 120 detectives and intelligence officers from Australia, the United States, Britain, Japan and other countries are working on the case with Indonesian investigators.

Aritonang said that the joint Indonesian-Australian investigative team “knows the whereabouts of the three suspects, where they visited recently and the people with whom they had contact.”

“Therefore the team is confident that we will resolve this case,” Aritonang said. “But we need time and have to be careful because we are dealing with a professional group that is monitoring the pursuit.”

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah has emerged as the prime suspect.

Abu Bakar Bashir, the group’s alleged spiritual leader, is due to be questioned for his role in a series of Christmas bombings in 2000 and a plot to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He is not a suspect in the Bali blasts.

Bashir has put off the interrogation, with doctors saying he is too sick to be questioned. Recovering in a police hospital, 64-year-old Bashir has denied any links with terrorists.

His supporters have held vocal demonstrations to protest against his detention, but police said they have sufficient evidence to charge the cleric.