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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (56186)	11/8/2002 6:48:46 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

Here is the latest on the Bali Bombing. From the "Australian." Bashir link to Bali suspect By Martin Chulov, Surabaya 08nov02 THE chief suspect in the Bali bomb blasts was visited three times during the past year by cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of banned terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah who has for three weeks denied any involvement in the atrocity. Neighbours in suspect Amrozi's tiny east Java village, and the director of the Islamic school where he prayed, confirmed to The Australian yesterday that Mr Bashir had visited Mr Amrozi's mechanical workshop each time he came to town. In a day of sudden developments, Indonesian and Australian police confirmed last night that Mr Amrozi had confessed to a significant role in the bombing. National police chief Da'i Bachtiar said the 35-year-old suspect had admitted he was the last owner of the Mitsubishi L300 minivan used to plant the main bomb outside the Sari Club, which claimed most of the 184 lives lost in the attack. He is believed to have bought the vehicle with US dollars from a man named Annas in Bali. "Amrozi used the car to plant the bomb in Bali," General Bachtiar said. "Amrozi admitted it, and we are still chasing his friends. "They are a group of people who have assigned jobs. Among them is Amrozi, who has admitted having come there (to Bali) and he was assigned to secure the mission and was also responsible for actions in the field." The suspect also has allegedly confessed to a role in the Atrium Plaza bombings in Jakarta during Christmas 2000, the same attack over which police are trying to question Mr Bashir. He is in custody. The international investigation team has been given details of the interrogation of Mr Amrozi, who was flown under guard to Bali on Wednesday for further questioning. Investigation sources said Mr Amrozi also had confessed he knew the top JI leaders – Mr Bashir and Riduan Isanuddin, alias Hambali, southeast Asia's most wanted man. Mr Bashir, who is based in the central Java town of Solo, last visited Mr Amrozi's village – Tenggulun, about two hours west of Surabaya, Java – in June. That was the month Mr Amrozi allegedly bought the minivan used for the Sari Club bomb. The Bashir visit was confirmed yesterday by the director of the village's Al Islam school, Mohammed Khozin, who said Mr Bashir had also visited in mid-2001. "Each time Abu Bakar Bashir came here, Amrozi played host to him in his bengkel (workshop)," said a neighbour named Maftunin. Mr Amrozi lives with his mother, Mariyam, and ailing father, Nurhasyim, in the back of a rundown rural cottage flanked on either side by his two workshops. Both were surrounded yesterday by police tape, but inside was evidence of amateur mechanical repairs, electrical components and a sewing machine that neighbours said was used to make veils. Mr Amrozi had a reputation in the village as a self-taught repair man, specialising in computers, mobile phones and cars. Police at the scene confirmed yesterday they had taken for analysis metal shavings found on tools in Mr Amrozi's shed, believing someone involved in the bombing had tried to obliterate the minivan's engine and chassis numbers. But it was the chassis number that led police to Mr Amrozi, with the help of analysts from Mitsubishi. He was arrested on Tuesday in his workshop by police from Indonesia's anti-terrorist team who had staked out his home for two days. His mother said yesterday she did not know her son had been arrested, and detectives had asked her only whether he had a passport. She confirmed that he had owned a white van that used to be parked at the front of the house, but it had been missing since late September. His room in the back of his parents' shack had been ransacked by detectives, who took away brochures on Islamic holy wars in Bosnia and The Philippines. They also seized a passport that confirmed he had recently travelled to Thailand and Malaysia, where neighbours said his brother, Ghufron, had run an Islamic school that was closed by the Malaysian Government in 1996. Detectives said Mr Amrozi had told investigators he did not regret the loss of life in Bali, but that he played no role in making the bomb. One of Mr Amrozi's friends has been detained by police in Surabaya. The developments came as police released a fourth identikit image of a man wanted over the Bali bombings. They refused to disclose his link but he is believed to be the person being sought for planting the smaller bomb at Paddy's bar, opposite the Sari Club. theaustralian.news.com.au