| FOUR terror suspects who escaped a police dragnet in Central Java last month could be behind yesterday’s attack in Jakarta. Terrorism experts said yesterday that nine Jemaah Islamiah members who were arrested in the security operation in early July revealed that they had sent eight bombs to Jakarta before their arrest. Four cell members, however, managed to avoid being caught. Two of the men have been named as Junaedi, alias Juned, and Para Wijayanto. The identities of the others have not been disclosed. Though the link has still to be established, terrorism experts believe security alerts should have been raised to the highest levels in Jakarta, in view of the missing men and bombs. Within days of the arrests in Semarang in early July, Indonesian newspaper Suara Merdeka quoted police spokesman Prasetyo as telling reporters that the suspects ’had confessed to investigators that they sent eight bombs to Jakarta’. Based on this information, National Police Chief Dai Bachtiar called on Jakarta residents to be extra alert in mid-July. The Jakarta Post reported that a joint investigation by Indonesian police and the Australian Federal Police had shown that the group was in the advanced stages of executing bombing plans. Central Java provincial police chief Didi Widayadi told reporters that 23 of the 26 bombs assembled were ready to be detonated at chosen targets in Central Java, Yogyakarta and Jakarta. |