Author: Rory Callinan
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: October 16, 2002
URL: http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5296025%255E23590,00.html
Ten Pakistani clerics are being
held under guard in connection with the Bali bomb blast, Indonesian police
have confirmed.
Police spokesman Superintendent
Yatim Suyatmo said the 10 Muslims had come under suspicion after they arrived
on the island last month.
Since Monday the clerics have been
held under guard at a Kuta Beach mosque.
He said the group was interviewed
by police and fingerprinted after giving a series of public lectures about
religion and social issues at Nusa Dua in the island's south without the
required public speaking permit.
"We have set up a special team to
look at them," he said. "They are being watched. But, he said, there was
nothing to connect the clerics to the bomb blast at this point.
"We have also asked the Pakistani
authorities for information about them."
Balinese police confirmed last night
they were questioning two suspects in connection to the weekend bomb attack
by terrorists.
Indonesian National Police Chief
Da'i Bachtiar speaking in the national capital Jakarta said his offices
were questioning two men about their role in the attack.
It is understood one of the men
being held was found with at least two different false identification cards,
which must be carried by law by every Indonesian national.
He was arrested after forensic police
recovered an identification card at the blast scene just two metres from
the centre of the explosion.
Police are also suspicious of the
card's owner who was listed as illegally having identity papers for Surabaya
in Java and Lombok.
Bali police chief Brigadier General
Budi Setiawan confirmed the identity card was an important lead but refused
to give further details about whether the owner of the card was in custody.
He said police were "doing everything
we can and when we get a lead we will announce it to the world".
Witnesses reported seeing a woman
driving the vehicle containing the bomb and parking it in front of the
Sari nightclub.
They told investigators the woman
drove up in a silver sedan and stopped, blocking traffic. She jumped from
the vehicle and ran to a local Kitjang four- wheel drive wagon parked a
few metres away, which then drove off.
The silver car's numberplates have
been confirmed as DK 2103 but police have withheld the last two characters
which denote the region where the vehicle is from and whether it is a rental
car.
Yesterday Bali police confirmed
they had questioned 27 people.
Most of them were witnesses to the
bombing.
Indonesian intelligence chief Mahmud
Hendropriyono yesterday confirmed that C4 plastic explosive was used in
the bombing.
"That information has not been released
formally," he added, declining further comment.
C4 is a powerful plastic explosive
used by the military.
Bali authorities yesterday appeared
to have difficulty sealing off the blast site.
Locals and photographers were able
to wander to within 5m of the bomb vehicle and at one stage the police
tape on one side of the site was replaced with a piece of string.
