JAKARTA, October 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesian police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said Thursday, October 31, that investigators had identified one of three suspects wanted for the October 12 Bali bombing, whereas the armed forces ruled out military involvement in the blast.

"Out of the three men whose faces we have sketched, one has been identified," Bachtiar told reporters after meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

Bachtiar would not release the name of the man, who has not yet been arrested, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Based on the identification, we are hoping to arrest the other two because all three men were the operators [of the bombing]," he said.

Police issued sketches of three men Wednesday, October 30, who they believe either carried out or planned the bombing.

Brigadier General Edward Aritonang, police spokesman for the Bali investigation, told AFP by telephone from the resort island that nobody had yet been arrested.

Vice President Haz said the government planned to submit to parliament a draft law on terrorism next week that would supersede emergency anti-terror regulations issued six days after the Bali attacks.

Among their provisions, the regulations allow detention for up to six months without trial.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's armed forces chief ruled out the possibility of military involvement in the Bali bombing Thursday.

Armed Forces Commander General Endriartono Sutarto told reporters that no serving members of the military had played a part in the October 12 attack which left more than 190 people dead.

"I'm sure active armed forces members were not involved," Sutarto told reporters at military headquarters.

But he added that "if we're talking about retired military officers then it's beyond my ability to control them."

Many, citing the magnitude of the blast and the way it was planned and conducted, have said disgruntled members of the military might have had a hand in the bombing.

Polls conducted by several newspapers have shown that many members of the public suspect involvement by active or retired officers.

In a related development, detained suspect Abu-Bakar Basyir challenged Thursday Bachtiar and security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take an oath saying his detention had nothing to do with foreign pressure.

Indonesian authorities detained Basyir October 20 as intense international pressure grew to crack down on Islamic groups in the aftermath of the Bali bombing.

Basyir is not a suspect in that blast, but police want to question him over a string of deadly bomb attacks two years ago as well as an alleged plot to kill Megawati Sukarnoputri before she became president.

The cleric is widely regarded as the spiritual leader of the regional Jemaah Islamiyah group which is suspected of having carried out the Bali bombing.

Basyir has denied any link to the group.

The 64-year-old cleric also said that Indonesia should sever diplomatic ties with the United States, which he accused of waging war against Islam, arguing that maintaining ties with an enemy of Islam was "haram," or forbidden by the religion.

"I am certain that there was pressure from abroad, the demand of foreigners, especially from the U.S. government," he told the El-Shinta radio station.

"If the coordinating minister for political, social and security affairs [Yudhoyono] and the head of the national police [Bachtiar] are denying this, I challenge them to take up an oath since they are both Muslims," Basyir said from his tightly-guarded room at a police hospital in east Jakarta.

Basyir again repeated accusations Thursday that the Bali blast was the work of the Americans.

"This is a conspiracy. The real international terrorist is the U.S. government which is supported and masterminded by the Jews...They have the hidden agenda to make war on Islam."

Basyir was brought to Jakarta earlier this week from the island of Solo where he had been in hospital after collapsing during a press conference when he had originally denied any link to the Bali blast.

Basyir said Thursday he was well and that "my health has undergone a lot of progress."

He said he was satisfied with the medical attention at the hospital.

Neither he nor his lawyers have received any notification of plans by the police to move him to police headquarters for questioning, Basyir said.