Indonesia embassy bomb: Police detain five
Indonesian police have detained at least seven people including a would-be suicide bomber over possible links with the suspected masterminds of last week’s deadly bombing at the Australian Embassy.
Police chief general Dai Bachtiar said some of those arrested have information on the whereabouts of Malaysian militants Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top, the alleged masterminds behind the September 9 explosion, which killed nine people and injured 170.
“We have captured some people who were with Azahari before the explosion,” Bachtiar said.
“They know that (Azahari) brought the explosives materials from one to another place including a house in Cenkareng (West Jakarta),” he said.
“They include a young guy who was ready to commit a suicide bombing. We have taken him to the scene, but he collapsed there.”
Earlier in the day, Lt Gen Suyitno Landung said police had detained five more people for questioning over the blast, but that they had not been formally arrested or charged.
The latest arrests brings to seven the number who have been detained over the past 48 hours in different parts of the country’s main island of Java.
Landung said officers were questioning the five over the whereabouts of Azahari and Noordin. He gave no more details.
Police have posted a reward of €90,000 for information leading to the arrest of Husin or Noordin, both alleged to be leading members of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
The pair are also alleged to have played key roles in the October 2002, Bali attack that killed 202 people, and August 2003, bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.
Police have also offered a reward of €44,000 for information on any of the eight other wanted bomb suspects.
