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Police find vital link to terror suspects

Australian Embassy security guards stand near a wreath with portraits of their colleagues killed in the Sept. 9 bomb explosion during prayers yesterday for the victims in Jakarta. PHOTO: AP

Police said yesterday they have uncovered a key piece of evidence that will strengthen their case against two of Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects blamed for the lethal suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Indonesia.

Investigators have found the chassis number of the van that carried the bomb, Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty said in Sydney. He said the discovery was a vital link to the bombers, who killed nine and injured more than 170 last Thursday.

Dozens of Australian federal police officers are involved in the Jakarta investigation, including several who also took part in the hunt for those responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.

"For people who remember the Bali bombings it was the chassis number that led to the early identification of those involved," Keelty said.

The top two suspects in last week's blast are Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Top, two Malaysians who authorities say are key members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked group. Police are pursuing a massive manhunt for the pair and have warned of more suicide attacks.

Police hope the chassis number will help link the two men to the delivery van used in the attack.

"Because these two are still at large, we have to be alert," Lieutenant General Suyitno Landung said. "We're searching for them. We're asking people to report any suspicious activity in their neighborhoods."

Meanwhile, Australia plans to move its Jakarta embassy because the current 10-year-old building is too small and its location on a busy road too dangerous, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

The Australian consulate in Bali also will be moved to a more secure area, an official said on condition of anonymity.

Security has been stepped up in Jakarta since Thursday, with embassies, shopping malls and hotels adding guards and barriers. Some roads have been closed.

"We have been stepping up security at buildings as well as strategic and vital places," President Megawati Sukarnoputri said after a Cabinet meeting. "I call on the people to cooperate with the government to maintain the security all over Indonesia."

Police officer Landung also said investigators were questioning a former owner of the truck used in the attack and taking DNA samples from relatives of at least three suspected suicide bombers to see if they match any body parts recovered at the scene.

At the bomb site, hundreds of police officers laid red roses, yellow sunflowers and white daisies at the embassy gate. At least two of the seriously injured victims were police officers guarding the embassy.

"We came here to pay our respects to the victims of this bloody bombings," said Retired Major Purnomo, clutching a bouquet of red roses. "This bombing is really touching our hearts."

Azahari, a British-trained engineer who taught bomb-making classes in Afghanistan and the Philippines, and Noordin, a university graduate and an explosives expert, have reportedly eluded capture at least five times in the past year.

A top police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said authorities believed the two men were still in the country, probably near Jakarta, the capital. He said Azahari and Noordin easily find shelter from Islamic extremists in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Indonesia has endured a series of terror attacks since 1999, all of them blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah. The worst were the Bali bombings and a suicide attack on Jakarta's J.W. Marriott Hotel that killed 12 last year.
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