Jakarta police 'knew hotel was a target'

Jakarta police seized documents last month showing terrorists were planning an attack in the area around the Marriott Hotel, where 14 people died yesterday in suicide car bombing.

Investigators were sifting through the wreckage today for clues, and detectives said they planned to release a sketch of one of two men believed to have bought the mini-van used in the blast.

About 150 people were wounded yesterday when a vehicle packed with explosives blew up outside the lobby of the five star hotel in the centre of the Indonesian capital.

Blood and broken glass covered the floor for two blocks around the tower, and room windows were shattered as high as the twentieth floor.

There were conflicting reports about the number of dead: the Red Cross said 14, but the Indonesian government would confirm only that 10 people had died.

Suspicion immediately fell on Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic militant group with links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

It was the second deadly terror attack in the world’s biggest Muslim nation in less than a year: 202 people, including 26 Britons, were killed last October in a strikingly similar car bomb attack in a nightclub district on Bali.

“There was a warning that there were some targets and we have been anticipating an attack,” said Jakarta police spokesman Prasetyo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

Prasetyo said the documents were seized along with weapons and explosives in the central Java town of Semarang last month. Police arrested seven alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members in those raids.

“In the documents there were some strategic areas including the location of the Marriott,” Prasetyo said.

He added that the security forces had increased their patrols around the area in response to the seizure.

National police chief Gen Da’i Bachtiar said the bomb was a mixture of low yield explosives and TNT, while jerry cans containing petrol were packed around it to create a fiery blast.

He said officers found a badly burned head close to the vehicle, and surgeons were attempting to “reconstruct the face”.

“We strongly suspect that this person is linked with the bomb,” he said.

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which was blamed for the Bali blasts, allegedly claimed responsibility for the hotel bombing in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper.

“This is a message for ... all our enemies that, if they execute any of our Muslim brothers, we will continue this campaign of terror in Indonesia and the region,” the paper quoted an unnamed JI operative as saying.

The paper did not give any more details on its source.

The first verdict in the Bali blasts is expected to be announced tomorrow.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, an alleged JI member, faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

JI’s alleged spiritual leader, Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, is also on trial for treason, and many in the region believe the proceedings could spark more terrorist attacks.