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| Southeast Asia |
| Bashir a suspect in church bombings... |
| 2002-10-17 |
| The spiritual leader of an Islamic militant group that reports have linked to the Bali nightclub bombings has been named a suspect in a series of deadly church bombings across Indonesia in 2000. Deputy National Police Spokesman Brig Gen. Edward Aritonang told The Associated Press that Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of the Jemaah Islamiyah group, would be summoned to appear for questioning Saturday. "Abu, was that you?" "Nope. Wudn't me." "Hokay. See ya." Although Jemaah Islamiyah has been linked in speculation to the bombings last weekend on Bali island that left nearly 200 dead, Bashir has denied any connection to the attacks. The United States and other countries have called on Indonesian authorities to arrest Bashir. Aritonang said Bashir had not been named a suspect in the Bali bombings but instead in a series of attacks on churches on Christmas eve 2000. The church bombings in Jakarta and nine other cities and towns killed 19 people and injured dozens. "Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's kill infidels in church, on their holiest day!" "Gosh, Abu! What a great idea! That way, we can get lotsa women and children!" "Yeah. We're in the worlds largest Muslim country. Nobody's gonna care a rat's patootie about them." "Gosh. You sure are holy, Abu. Can I touch your turban?" Aritonang said police decided to declare Bashir a suspect in the church bombings after Indonesian investigators returned from the United States, where they had questioned Omar Al-Faruq, a suspected al-Qaida Southeast Asian operative. Al-Faruq was arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to U.S. authorities. For some reason, he didn't say an awful lot when he was in Indonesian custody... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |