"Dang! You caught us!"
"We're sorry! Really, we are!"
"Yeah. Can we go home now?"
Two men arrested last week on charges of bombing the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August have expressed regret over the incident that killed 12 people and left 150 injured. Tohir and Ismail, who were arrested on Wednesday in Cirebon, West Java, were flown by helicopter to National Police headquarters in Jakarta on Sunday. West Java Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Muryan Faizal said the two suspects had been detained for four days at a hotel in Bandung city for questioning on their two Malaysian accomplices who managed to escape to arrest.
| "No! Don't put us up in a... a... hotel!" |
Tohir, speaking to television network SCTV in Bandung, admitted his involvement in the August 5 bombing and apologized to the victims' families. "In the name of Allah... I confess that I did it
I apologize to families of the victims sincerely, without any pressure from others, and to the Muslim community, who have felt the slander and negative impacts of my actions," he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. Ismail also expressed remorse, saying: "This is my action. I regret it."
The two men had been working with wanted terrorists Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top, who are suspected of involvement in the Marriott blast and last year’s deadly Bali nightclub bombings. After their arrest on Wednesday, Tohir and Ismail led police to find the Bandung hideout of the two Malaysians, but the fugitives escaped because officers feared they would detonate explosives they were carrying.
National Police chief General Dai Bachtiar on Sunday said he believed Azahari and Noordin are still in Java, where points of exit are being tightly monitored. He urged the public to be on the lookout for the two men and any other suspected terrorists. "Anybody who might see someone suspicious is advised to contact the nearest police post," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara. Experts say the fugitives are desperate and dangerous, and would prefer to carry out a suicide bombing of a Western target rather than be arrested. Both men are alleged members of regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al Qaeda and accused of responsibility for a string of bombings in Southeast Asia. |