A suspected member of late terror leader Noordin Mohammad Top’s network went on trial in Indonesia yesterday, charged over twin suicide attacks on luxury hotels in Jakarta last year.
The bombings killed seven people as well as the two suicide bombers and marked the bloody end of a four-year hiatus in attacks attributed to Noordin and al-Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.
Noordin’s alleged driver, Amir Abdillah, could face multiple death sentences if convicted on charges that include carrying out an act of terrorism, providing explosive materials and harboring terrorist suspects.
Prosecutors said he was also part of a plot to assassinate Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and had booked a room at the JW Marriott hotel that the bombers used to prepare their attacks.
“He assisted in an act of terrorism by way of purposely using violence and stirring an atmosphere of terror and widespread fear,” prosecutor Totok Bambang said.
Two Islamic extremists with backpacks filled with homemade bombs blew themselves up at the neighboring JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in downtown Jakarta on July 17. Three Australians, a New Zealander and a Dutch couple were among the dead as the bombers targeted a meeting of foreign businessmen and a restaurant popular with Western guests.
Abdillah wore the white garb of a devout Muslim, joked with journalists and smiled during the hearing, but was not required to enter a plea.
Asked by journalists outside the court whether he regretted his actions, he thought for a few seconds and replied: “Yes.”
Police have said his arrest shortly after the hotel blasts was crucial to subsequent operations which ultimately led to the killing or capture of Malaysian Noordin and several of his accomplices.
Noordin, who was killed by police in September, led a splinter faction of Jemaah Islamiyah that he dubbed “al-Qaeda in the Malay Archipelago.”
In addition to the hotel blasts, he was blamed for a 2003 attack on the Marriott, the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta and 2005 attacks on tourist restaurants on Bali, killing almost 50 people in total.
Jemaah Islamiyah carried out the 2002 bombings of nightspots on Bali that killed 202 people, mainly Western tourists, as well as other attacks targeting Indonesian Christians.
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