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| Southeast Asia |
| Suspect named in Sulawesi market bombings |
| 2005-06-03 |
| Indonesian police named a prison warden and a captured convict on Friday as suspects in twin bombings in an eastern Christian town which killed 22 people. They are among 13 people detained in the wake of the blasts in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena last Saturday, the worst bombing since the 2002 Bali blasts. "There are now two suspects. One is a prison warden and the other is someone who was supposed to be in jail," national police chief General Da'i Bachtiar told reporters, adding it was unclear what their motive might have been. The warden, head of the main jail in the Muslim town of Poso, had residue of a chemical substance on his clothing similar to that found at the Tentena bomb site, Bachtiar said. The captured convict had been serving time in the jail after being linked to a murder case, deputy national spokesman Soenarko Artanto said. He was arrested near Tentena shortly after the bombings, police have said. Police were investigating the possibility that one or both bombs were assembled inside the Poso prison, after finding materials for crude bombs such as cylinders and wires inside the facility, Bachtiar added. Indonesia has said the Tentena attacks bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, a group linked to al Qaeda and blamed for several attacks on Western targets in Indonesia. Security experts have said local Islamic radicals were more likely responsible. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |