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The suspect, Amrozi, left
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JAKARTA,
November 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While investigators
Friday, November 8, hunted the accomplices of a young Indonesian who
allegedly helped build the main Bali bomb in “an attempt to kill as
many Americans as possible”, reports about the suspect differed to
the degree of contradiction.
Local
and foreign detectives were searching for between five and nine
accomplices of the detained suspect, identified as Amrozi, according
to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In
Manila, the man leading Indonesia's probe, Major General I Made Mangku
Pastika, gave chilling details of the plot which cost the lives of
more than 190 people in a nightclub inferno.
Indonesia's
police chief Da'i Bachtiar late Thursday, November 7, announced the
first breakthrough almost a month after the bombings - a reported
confession from Amrozi that he was field coordinator for the attack.
Amrozi,
aged 30, had been flown to Bali island from Java on Wednesday evening
for further questioning.
Pastika,
attending a regional anti-terrorism conference in Manila, said Amrozi
has also admitted helping build the main bomb. He said the suspect
hated Americans and said he wanted to "kill as many Americans as
possible" in the attack.
Pastika
said investigators discovered where the terrorists had constructed the
bomb but did not elaborate.
Pastika
also said Amrozi admitted having met Indonesian scholar Abu Bakar
Bayshir and suspect Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali.
He
did not say if police have found any direct link between Bayshir and
Hambali and the bomb attack.
The
Indonesian police, meanwhile, Friday guarded a motorbike repair
workshop run by Amrozi as investigators and a friend painted
contrasting portraits of the suspect.
Pastika,
for his part, depicted a cold-blooded murderer who allegedly admitted
trying to "kill as many Americans as possible."
However, a
friend in Java island described Amrozi as a sociable person who holds
no radical views of Islam.
Amrozi
is an amateur mechanic who runs a motorbike repair workshop and
sometimes sells used cars or cell phones to make a living, said
Muhammad Zakaria, who heads the Al-Islam Islamic boarding school
founded by Amrozi's brother.
"His
views of Islam are not different from those of others. Only once he
asked me why America seemed to be inclined to discredit Islam,"
Zakaria told AFP.
Amrozi
was not a student at al-Islam but often visited it.
Zakaria
said Amrozi was arrested by police officers - one of whom was Amrozi's
friend – Tuesday, November 5, at his parents' home in the remote
village of Tenggulun in East Java.
Amrozi,
in his mid-30s, had a failed marriage and had remarried, Zakaria said.
"His
previous wife complained that he hung out with his friends most of the
times and rarely stayed at home," he said. "But socially
he's a good person."
Amrozi
was often asked by friends to install additional antennae for mobile
phones because the cellular signal is bad in his village, Zakaria
said.
Police
said that one of the bombs which went off in Bali on October 12 was
triggered by a mobile phone switched to vibrating mode.
Zakaria
denied Pastika's remarks that the suspect personally met Bayshir, who
is detained in Jakarta for a string of attacks in 2000.
He
said Bayshir visited his boarding school twice, in June this year and
also last year, to give a graduation speech.
"He
(Amrozi) was present at the speech but he did not personally know
Ustadz (teacher) Bayshir or host him at his house," Zakaria said.
"We
invited Ustadz Bayshir because he was always available."
He
said Bayshir's two speeches at the school were not inflammatory and
did not contain anti-Western messages.
Indonesian
police declared Bayshir a suspect in a series of church bombings on
Christmas Eve 2000 and in a plot to assassinate Megawati Sukarnoputri
before she became President.
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| Indonesians believe the U.S. to be the sole party gaining from Bali tragedy
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Singapore
and Malaysia say Bayshir is the spiritual leader of regional network
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which is suspected of a possible role in the
Bali blast.
Within
the same line, Indonesian Defense Minister said Friday, November 8,
that Amrozi is a member of the JI, according to AFP.
"The
Bali bombing is obviously linked to the al-Qaeda network. This is my
conviction," Matori Abdul Jalil told reporters.
"Besides,
Amrozi is a member of Jemaah Islamiyah."
That
was a clear contradiction of comments made earlier Friday, by the man
leading Indonesia's probe into the Bali bombing, Pastika, who said
that no connection had been found so far between Amrozi and the JI.
Jalil
has previously asserted that al-Qaeda was behind the Bali blast but
given no evidence.
Pastika
claimed that planning for
the attack began in early September
in Malaysia.
He
said authorities are looking for between five and nine other suspects,
all Indonesians whose identities are known.
He
said Amrozi told police "they were not very happy because
Australians were killed" instead of Americans.
At
least three Americans were among the dead but Australians and
Indonesians were among the worst hit.
The
Foreign Ministry in Canberra said Friday a total of 59 Australians
were confirmed killed and a further 27 are missing and presumed dead.
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