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| Southeast Asia |
| Bigger attack planned |
| 2009-09-02 |
| [Straits Times] A SUSPECT wanted in connection with hotel suicide bombings in Jakarta had infiltrated the national airline in a plot to carry out a 'bigger attack', the national police chief told MPs on Monday. The suspect, identified only as Syahrir, had been recruited by a militant network and was working as a technician with flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, said General Bambang Hendarso Danuri. Documents seized by police uncovered the plot to strike in Indonesia's airline sector, he said, without providing details. Syahrir had resigned from the airline, but remains at large, Gen Danuri added. Blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17 killed seven people and wounded more than 50 others, ending a four-year pause in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. Syahrir is the brother-in-law of a militant suspect shot dead by police last month in an hours-long standoff in Central Java province, Gen Danuri said. The suspect who was shot, Ibrohim, had been working as a florist at the two hotels for years before smuggling in explosives and the bombers for the July attacks, the police said. Gen Danuri declined to provide further information to reporters, after making his comments to Parliament's national foreign affairs and security committee. Police are still searching for several suspects in the hotel bombings, including alleged mastermind Noordin Top, said to head a breakaway faction of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah. They are also pursuing an Al-Qaeda connection to the bombings, after confirming that a suspect in custody had been a follower of Osama bin Laden. |
| Posted by:Fred |