Possible Libya, Afghanistan links in Bali bombing, chief investigator says

Jakarta Post ^ | 11/1/02

[Ranger]

DENPASAR, BALI (JP): Indonesians who trained as Islamic guerrillas in Libya and fought in Afghanistan might have committed the Oct. 12 Bali nightclub bombings that killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, the chief investigator in the case Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika said here on Friday.

I Made said his team was following 10 strong leads. "This must have been committed by professionals who had planned well and were well organized. I think they are Indonesians," he told AP.

"There were Indonesians fighting in Afghanistan and some of them were trained in Libya. This is one of several possibilities. But we are not only focusing on that," he said.

AP reported that the manhunt for the bombers moved to the neighboring island of Java after police announced they had raided a house and discovered a photograph matching a composite sketch of one of three suspects in the attack.

Relatives of one fugitive had been questioned and officers were searching for him in Malang, East Java, a province separated from Bali to the west by a narrow strait, a police spokesman Sad Harunantyo told Radio El-Shinta.

In Canberra on Friday, Australian police added weight to a possible Java connection when they announced that the main blast, which destroyed the packed Sari Club, was by explosive chlorate set off by a "booster charge," such as TNT. More than 400 kilograms of chlorate were stolen on Java in September, they said