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| Southeast Asia |
| Bali bomb held a tonne of explosives |
| 2003-01-21 |
| The confessed field commander of the Bali bombing team, Ali Imron, has told investigators the bomb outside the Sari Club contained a tonne of explosives, three times as much as previously thought, Indonesian police said yesterday. They said Imron told them the bomb was so heavy that he was afraid when he drove it part of the way to the Sari Club, and said the van was sluggish and difficult to handle. Forensic experts from the Australian Federal Police found traces of substances in the house in Denpasar which, Imron has told them, was used by the plotters to assemble the bomb. Meanwhile, the man who led the Bali bomb attacks, Imam Samudra, 35, says he has cleansed himself of the blood of his victims and is preparing to enter Paradise. In a poem written in his cell under the shadow of a death sentence, Samudra wrote: Don't ask me about blood Don't ask me about life. It's just nothing compared to Paradise. Don't quit your day job In 36 pages, written in a school exercise book, the fundamentalist Islamic teacher said nothing about the 194 people, including 88 Australians, who died. Nor did he express any remorse. Instead, he said he would die a martyr, executed in jihad, a holy war against the enemies of his faith. A martyr's death would release him from all earthly sins and was an immediate entry to Paradise, a realm of milk and honey, gold, pearls and amethyst with an endless supply of houris for sexual pleasure. Ahmad Michdan, the head of the defence team, said the diary pages were the first instalment of a book Samudra intended to have published. Most of his writing was devoted to explaining his religious beliefs. He did not mention the atrocity, although he referred to it obliquely when describing his journey to Solo, in Central Java, as part of a police reconstruction of the plot. He described looking out of a window in the police armoured car and seeing an old man with a white beard, who was calling out the name of Allah. The old man so impressed Samudra that he returned to him frequently in his dreams. In one dream, Samudra addressed him as an Angel of God, but the old man shook his head and told Samudra it was he who was going to enter Paradise. Such material is sometimes difficult for non-Muslims to accept, but it will cause a sensation in Indonesia, which has the biggest Muslim population in the world. Police are worried the Bali bombing might produce an inspirational martyr to serve as a role model for terrorists |
| Posted by:Paul |
| #2 If you don't use up all your nukes on Saudi arabia et al, can you save a few for the island of Java? That's the nexus of evil... oh and drop one on Dr Mahatir's head, too. |
| Posted by: Down Under 2003-01-21 23:45:15 |
| #1 Now there's a boy who needs a pork suit for his burial....let him know that awaits him and we'll see how resolved he is heh heh |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-01-21 22:53:50 |