Bali Bombing Suspects Identified

[Manu]

BALI, Indonesia -- Indonesian police have identified three of the Bali bombing suspects and are searching possible hideouts, local media has reported.

Police were not ready to publicly reveal the names of the suspects but confirmed all three were Indonesian nationals, Edward Aritonang, spokesman for the joint blast investigation team, said.

"We have found the identities of the three publicized sketches ... their names and their hideouts," he said adding that, these locations were being searched by investigators, Reuters news service reported.

The bomb blasts killed at least 180 people -- many of them Australian tourists -- and injured hundreds more when they ripped through Bali's popular nightclub district on October 12.

After sketches were published in local newspapers last week, police received information from the public detailing their identity and last known addresses.

Last week the Australian Federal Police stated the attacks were an expert operation, not the work of a suicide bomber.

The Australian Federal Police said the bombs were well placed to take advantage of surrounding buildings and that technical experts had assessed the bomb-making skills used as "above average" standard.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks however, both the Australian and U.S. governments have speculated over the involvement of Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Arrest
The group's alleged leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was arrested on October 18 after Indonesian investigators returned from questioning al Qaeda operative Omar Al-Faruq who was handed over to the United States in June.

Al-Faruq claims to know Ba'asyir well and has said the cleric facilitated attacks on Christian churches in Indonesia in late 2000.


Balinese and Indonesians from other parts of the country take part in a vigil at the blast site in front of the destroyed Sari Club in Kuta



On Monday, Ba'asyir's lawyers called for a Jakarta court to annul his arrest claiming it was unlawful given the lack of preliminary evidence, Reuters reported.

Police want to question the 64-year old Muslim cleric in relation to both the church bombings and an alleged plot to assassinate Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He has not been arrested in connection with the Bali bombings.

Authorities from the United States, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines say they have evidence of JI links to al Qaeda and that the group has established several cells throughout Southeast Asia and Australia.

Ba'asyir has denied his group has any ties to al Qaeda, and he has denied JI's involvement in the Bali bombings.

He blames "foreign parties," including the United States, for those attacks.

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