Indonesia police refuse to deny confession report
BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - The police chief of the Indonesian island of Bali said on Wednesday he would not confirm nor deny a report that a former air force member had confessed to building bombs that killed 181 people in weekend blasts.
"Later that information will be developed. I will give that to investigators," Budi Setyawan told reporters.
"We will develop that," he said when asked whether he could confirm or deny the report in The Washington Post. The Post sourced its information to an unnamed Indonesian security official linking the former Indonesian air force member to the explosions.
No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's blasts, that killed mostly foreign tourists, but national police chief Da'i Bachtiar has told reporters authorities were "intensively" interrogating two Indonesians.
Indonesia on Monday for the first time linked Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to the blasts, and U.S. President George W. Bush said he also believed the group, blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, was involved.
Eight bombers staged Bali attack using two vans: newspaper
Eight bombers in two vans staged the deadly Bali terrorism attack, a newspaper reported, as President Megawati was expected to discuss the investigation with members of her cabinet.
Citing police and intelligence sources, local daily Koran Tempo said Wednesday the bombers may have used remote control devices to blow up the two bars filled mostly with foreigners in Bali's busy Kuta tourist district.
Police have said that the explosion, which killed more than 180 people and has been blamed on al-Qaeda, was caused by a car bomb and that the powerful plastic explosive C4 was used.
Two Indonesians have been detained in connection with the attack, which is being investigated by the local police backed by officers from Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
One of the detained was said to have been in the Kuta area when the blast occurred.
Tempo cited information obtained from an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) that eight people -- seven Indonesians under the leadership of someone from the Middle East -- carried out the bombing.
"They are all aready out of Bali," the official said.
Bali Police Chief Brigadier General Budi Setiawan, asked about the newspaper report Wednesday, said "that is from the report of our (police) intelligence" but declined further comment.
"The questioning and the investigation is still proceeding," he said.
According to Tempo, the two multi-purpose vans used in the attack had first stopped near the popular Sari Club, causing a traffic jam in the narrow main street of Kuta while clearing a space in front of them.
One van was left behind and the occupants switched to the other vehicle which sped off before the bomb blew up shortly thereafter, it said.
"There are two possibilities, that the bomb was activated by a timer or the perpetrators just pushed a remote control button so that they can control the blast from a safe distance and give them enough time to flee," a police source was quoted as saying.
The blast ripped through the packed Sari Club and a bar across the road and caused a fire that blazed for hours and gutted the area.
National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar said some witnesses spoke of a man who left a white plastic bag at the scene and fled when he was hailed shortly before the blast.
"We are already in possesion of the description of the man," Bachtiar said.
Sources said President Megawati was expected to discuss the probe into the country's worst ever terrorist attack with some of her cabinet members on Wednesday.
Megawati's limited cabinet meeting was mainly to discuss her upcoming trips abroad, Garibaldi Sujatmiko, the head of the press and media office of the presidential secretariat, told AFP but sources close to the cabinet said the investigation appear certain to be on the agenda.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has described the attack as "very carefully planned" and said Indonesian investigators believed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, possibly working with a local group such as Jemaah Islamiyah, was responsible.
Megawati is scheduled to receive Downer for talks on Wednesday.
Downer, who visited Bali before arriving here late on Tuesday, is expected to press Indonesia to set up a joint counter-terrorism task force which would give Australian a rare role in its activities, reports in Sydney said.
Australians and Indonesians are believed to account for the bulk of those killed and injured in Saturday's attack.