Posted on 09/23/2003 1:16:19 PM PDT by knighthawk
The man accused of designing the bombs that rocked the tourist island of Bali last year and a Jakarta hotel last month, plans to strike again in the Indonesian capital, the country's police chief said.
Azahari, a 46-year-old British-educated Malaysian engineer, accused by authorities in several countries of being the top bomb-maker for the militant South-East Asian Jemaah Islamiah network, is still on the run and one of the most wanted men in Asia.
"The group is still planning bombings and terror in several places, particularly in Jakarta," General Da'i Bachtiar told reporters before a hearing in parliament.
"We have information that there are several materials which have been turned into bombs being carried around by several people, especially those under the leadership of Dr Azahari and Nurdin M Top," Gen Bachtiar said.
After the hearing Gen Bachtiar said one of the bombs had a possible weight of around 150 kilograms.
"Originally, we didn't want to disclose this and scare people because this information came from statements that may be false. But we just don't want to take any chances," he said.
The police chief said the information came from interrogations of suspects in the August 5 bombing of the US-run JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.
Top is another Malaysian and alleged member of Jemaah Islamiah, Al-Qaeda's link in South-East Asia.
Police say Azahari trained as an Islamic militant in Afghanistan and the Philippines before specialising in bomb-making.
They say Jemaah Islamiah was behind the Marriott blast and the bombings of nightclubs on October 12, 2002 in Bali which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Before the Bali blasts, Indonesia was criticised by some Western governments for what was seen as its reluctance to take swift action in the global war on terror.
Since then, however, it has won praise for trying to root out militancy.
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