A week after twin suicide blasts in Jakarta killed seven people and marked a return of terror to Indonesia, police yesterday appeared no closer to cracking the Islamist network believed responsible.
Police have stepped up the hunt for alleged terrorist mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top, who is believed to be behind the attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta last Friday.
A suspected would-be suicide bomber who had been trained by Noordin’s group was arrested on Thursday in the Central Java district of Cilacap, which has become a focus of the investigation.
PHOTO: AP
A woman believed to be the Malaysian-born Noordin’s third wife was arrested there earlier in the week, although her lawyers say she believed her husband’s name was Abdul Halim.
Days before the attacks, police raided an Islamic boarding school in Cilacap believed to be one of Noordin’s hideouts. They also found bomb-making materials that were identical to the ones used last Friday.
The bombers, one aged as young as 16, remain unidentified, but police say they are looking for two men believed to have been involved in the attacks, including an associate of Noordin and a florist who worked at the hotels.
The coordinated blasts are the first major terror strike in the mainly Muslim country since 2005, shattering a period of calm which had seen strong economic growth and stability under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The Marriott bomber stayed in Room 1808 for two days ahead of the attacks and reportedly used components from the room’s television to complete the bombs.
Three Australians and a New Zealander — businessmen and a diplomat who were guests at the business meeting — were killed at the Marriott along with an Indonesian hotel worker.
Two Dutch tourists died minutes later when the second bomber, aged 20 to 40 years according to police, blew himself up in the cafe of the adjacent Ritz-Carlton.
The second bomber reportedly gained access to the Ritz-Carlton through a staff door with the help of the florist, who had worked at the hotels for three years but has not been seen since the attacks.
Noordin is one of the most wanted fugitives in Southeast Asia and has been the subject of a massive manhunt since the 2002 bombings on the tourist island Bali that killed 202 people.
He was allegedly involved in that attack as part of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, and subsequently masterminded suicide bombings at the Marriott in 2003, the Australian embassy in 2004 and Bali restaurants in 2005.
But analysts say the former accountant fell out of favor with his associates in Jemaah Islamiyah who disapproved of his indiscriminate killings, fearing too many Muslims were dying.
He is since believed to have formed his own splinter group with the ambition of creating an Islamic caliphate across much of Southeast Asia governed by strict Shariah law.
The six-year hunt for Noordin has produced a steady flow of tantalizing near-misses. In October 2003 Noordin and his Malaysian master bomb-maker Azhari fled from a police raid on their rented hideout in Bandung city, West Java. Azhari was killed in a shootout with police in 2005.
Noordin escaped arrest again when the police raided several homes in Central Java in October 2005, and in November the same year.
Local media last year also reported Noordin narrowly evaded capture in East Java after seeking treatment for a liver illness.
Several areas of Thailand’s capital city Bangkok were inundated by continuous rain from Thursday afternoon to yesterday morning that has disrupted traffic and forced some residents to evacuate. Major canals in Bangkok filled with accumulated rainfall exceeding 20cm, officials said yesterday. Floodwaters spread across the city, particularly in the central and eastern parts, blocking roads and stopping traffic. The Thai Meteorological Department warned that the heavy rain would continue in most parts of the country through today, citing a strong low-pressure system over the central region and strengthening southwest monsoon conditions. More than 84,000 people in 21 provinces nationwide were
BAD TIMING: The disclosure of the incident, which is under investigation by at least two congressional committees, comes as Xi was to meet with Trump The Pentagon is investigating how parts of the US’ most advanced fighter jet ended up in Hong Kong, with a news outlet on Wednesday reporting that China has obtained the F-35 equipment. The F-35 Joint Program Office said in a statement that it and the US Department of Defense are aware of “a shipment issue” with F-35 components. “We are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence,” the office said. UPS was shipping a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door from an Australian military F-35 that was being
Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition early yesterday said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis toward the kingdom. The coalition said in posts on social media that the missiles were headed towards Khamis Mushait and the drones toward the capital, Riyadh, adding that it was monitoring the missile threat and drones launched at the kingdom, without providing further details. The Saudi Civil Defense had sent alerts overnight for Khamis Mushait and Abha, but not for Riyadh. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks
IN DEFENSE: Australia said it takes the protection of classified and export-controlled tech extremely seriously amid concerns over reverse engineering A US House of Representatives committee that oversees defense policy is investigating the diversion of potentially sensitive F-35 jet components this year from Australia to Hong Kong, a spokesperson said. “The committee is aware of this issue and we’ve received multiple briefings on it,” House Committee on Armed Services spokesperson Heather Vaughan said, adding that the group is “continuing to look into the incident and conduct oversight.” The Pentagon’s F-35 program office said in a statement that “we are aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 components and we are actively working with US authorities and industry partners to retrieve these
RSS