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| Southeast Asia |
| 2 detained in connection with Bali bombings |
| 2005-10-04 |
| Indonesian police said on Tuesday that they had detained two people in connection with the weekend suicide bombings on the holiday island of Bali. Investigators had already said they were questioning witnesses to Saturdayâs attacks which left 22 people dead, including three suicide bombers. But Made Mangku Pastika, Baliâs police chief, on Tuesday singled out two people whom he said had been taken in for questioning over the attack. The identities of the suspects were not immediately clear. The detentions âare confirmed. But we canât give you details,â said Colonel Bambang Kuncoko, a police spokesman in Jakarta. Indonesian police remained on high alert as investigators stepped up efforts to identify the three suicide bombers responsible for the weekend carnage. No one has claimed responsibility. Indonesian officials said police had evidence the three bombers had staked out their targets for at least six weeks before the attack. Saturday's attacks have rekindled fears about terrorism in south-east Asia and prompted authorities across the region to increase security. Officials in Thailand, which has been battling an Islamist insurgency in its south, on Monday said there would be increased security at tourist sites. Australia and Britain said they had sent bomb and anti-terrorism experts to help the Indonesian investigation. Australia, which has had a close relationship with Indonesian authorities since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 88 Australians, said it was sending 32 police officers to Bali, including bomb and counter-terrorism specialists. The UK sent four London Metropolitan police officers with experience in forensics. The accelerating investigation came as financial markets largely shrugged off the potential economic impact of the attacks. In spite of predictions of falls due to the bombings and an increase in domestic fuel prices by the government, the Indonesian rupiah was down only marginally against the US dollar on Monday â the first day of trading after the bombings â while the Jakarta Stock Exchange closed up 0.4 per cent. The rupiah gained 0.4 per cent to 10,265 against the dollar in early Tuesday trading. Officials said among those killed by the bombs were 14 Indonesians, two Australians and a Japanese man. Forensic experts in Bali recovered three heads believed to belong to the suicide bombers from the two bomb sites and police hoped the public release of pictures might lead to their identification. A senior official said the three men were believed to be from the main island of Java and âpolice are banking that [the] public announcement of pictures will encourage family or kin in Java [to] come forward with more identification and evidenceâ. Investigators have established that the three suicide bombers ârented lodging in Denpasar (the Balinese provincial capital) for [the] past six weeksâ, the senior Indonesian official told the Financial Times. That would indicate a pattern similar to the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 and were blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah. The bombers in that attack rented lodgings in Bali ahead of their attacks, with at least one key JI commander visiting to inspect their preparations. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |