Posted on 11/13/2002 4:22:01 PM PST by Jacob Kell
BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Smiling and waving at reporters, a fresh-faced Indonesian who has admitted being one of the Bali bombers, on Wednesday told of his delight at the attacks and said he went sightseeing in the days before the blasts.
Wearing police-issue shorts and a blue T-shirt with the word "detainee" splashed across his back, Amrozi looked relaxed as more than 100 reporters and cameramen watched the national police chief question the prime suspect in the attack.
Police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said Amrozi was not in Bali when the bombs exploded on the night of October 12, ripping through part of the famous Kuta Beach tourist district and killing nearly 200 people, many of them foreign tourists.
His work done, Amrozi had already gone back to his home village in East Java.
"After he was there, he heard on the radio there had been a bomb explosion in Bali. He said he felt delighted that his bomb had successfully exploded in Bali," Bachtiar told a news conference.
"He was certainly happy with the explosion, and hoped it was in accordance with the objective that had been hoped for."
The bombers wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, Amrozi has previously said, although Australians bore the brunt of the deaths among foreign tourists.
Bachtiar gave the fullest account yet on Wednesday of the events leading up to the explosions on October 12, which have been tied to Jemaah Islamiah, a militant Southeast Asian Muslim group that has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
He also named four additional suspects in the hunt for the bombers. That brought to seven the number of named suspects, including Amrozi, out of 10 Indonesians police have been hunting.
Amrozi is the only one arrested so far.
FOOT SOLDIER
Police identified a brother of Amrozi, Ali Imron, as the one who parked a bomb-laden minivan in front of the Sari nightclub on October 12, where it soon exploded in a massive fireball.
Amrozi, aged around 40 although he looks 10 years younger, has admitted owning the minivan and buying much of the explosives used to make the car-bomb. There were also two smaller blasts.
Bachtiar painted a picture of Amrozi as a foot soldier among the group of bombers, taking orders from others. Bachtiar said the bombers often used text messaging when communicating.
He said Amrozi claimed he did not assemble the car-bomb, but said he saw explosive materials along with two handphones with cables sticking out of them at a safehouse in Bali.
"He wanted to ask his friends what all this would be used for, but they said 'you don't need to know, this is our business'. After that he was taken around Bali for sightseeing before going back to (East Java)," Bachtiar said.
It was Amrozi's first trip to Bali.
With the vast media contingent looking on, Bachtiar questioned Amrozi for more than an hour. Amrozi often smiled, and laughed occasionally. He certainly appeared relaxed.
Amrozi's occasional quips, usually a play on village language, brought laughter from police standing by, and the odd smile from Bachtiar.
Journalists were not allowed to ask questions, and only photographers and cameraman could go past a glassed-off area at Bali's police headquarters where Bachtiar and Amrozi sat at a plain table.
There was a hiccup when the police tape recorder did not work.
PRAISES POLICE ON PROBE
After previously coming under international criticism for not taking the threat of terrorism seriously enough, Jakarta has been under enormous pressure to make progress in the Bali probe.
Earlier this week police said Amrozi was a student of Abu Bakar Bashir -- the alleged spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah.
Police detained Bashir last month over a series of church bombings in Indonesia in 2000 and a plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri, but have not tied him to the Bali blasts.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
"...He (Amrozi) idolized the teachings of his own brother Mukhlas, Abu Bakar Bashir and Jafar Umar Thalib. From all the preachers, their teachings impressed him most," Bachtiar said.
Thalib is head of the recently disbanded Laskar Jihad militant group while Mukhlas is part of Amrozi's large family.
Bachtiar said Amrozi recounted how he worked in Malaysia on and off from the mid-1980s, where he listened to sermons by Bashir, who had fled Indonesia to avoid authoritarian rulers.
"There, he started to gain an awareness and a desire to oppose those who oppress Muslims," said Bachtiar.
In 2000, Amrozi said he was asked to find explosive materials to be sent to Ambon city, riven by Muslim-Christian clashes at the time, which he knew would be used for bombs, Bachtiar said.
While happy about the Bali bombing, Amrozi did ask for forgiveness from his family for causing them trouble.
He also complemented police on their probe, expressing admiration that officers were able to make a sketch of him even though he had not been to the bomb site. Police did that thanks to a description provided over a motorbike Amrozi bought.
"He laughed at that, saying we were smart," Bachtiar said.
Wuck the Fahhabis and Fahhabism.
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