Police to publish sketches of suspected bombers
Authorities in Indonesia have drafted sketches of three suspects in the Bali nightclub bombing that killed nearly 200 people, including around 30 Britons, and plan to post them throughout the country, police said today.
Brigadier General Edward Aritonang said investigators had pieced together sketches of the unidentified men based on the testimony of witnesses.
“They have typical Indonesian faces,” said Aritonang, who added that the drawings were to be made public this afternoon in Bali and in the capital, Jakarta, and would be posted in all police stations throughout Indonesia.
General I Made Mangku Pastika, who heads the investigation into the October 12 attack, told reporters yesterday that police believe that one of the three men made and planted the bombs.
His statement was the first indication that the slow investigation into the attack was moving forward. Until now, investigators have always stressed that they had no suspects or leads in the case.
Police doctors will also conduct more medical tests on Abu Bakar Bashir, an ailing Muslim cleric who is suspected of being the spiritual leader of a regional terrorist network that has been blamed for the Bali attack.
Doctors said Bashir, currently being treated at a police hospital in Jakarta, will be ready for questioning by the end of the week.
Detectives plan to interrogate the cleric about allegations that he is the spiritual leader of the extremist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which is believed to be responsible for the attack in Bali. It was added last week to a UN list of groups linked to the al-Qaida network.
Bashir is not officially a suspect in the Bali bombing, but has been charged with ordering a string of church bombings in 2000 that killed 19 people and plotting the assassination of President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Bashir denies any wrongdoing. His arrest followed the questioning of Omar al-Faruq, an al-Qaida operative taken into custody by Indonesia and turned over to the US in June. Al-Faruq allegedly implicated Bashir in the church bombings and the assassination plot.
