Jakarta, Aug 12: The Jemaah Islamiyah terror group blamed for the Bali and Jakarta hotel blasts has formed a special unit numbering 10-15 potential suicide bombers, a report said today. Indonesia's respected tempo news magazine said a man called Mustofa, arrested during police raids in early July, had confessed to preparing the "ready to die" squad known as Laskar Khos, or special militia. Suicide bombers were used to kill 202 people in Bali last October. Authorities believe the Marriott Hotel bombing, which killed 11 people last week and sparked a heightened alert in the city, was probably also a suicide blast. The United States has warned that extremists could be plotting more attacks against Americans or US interests in Indonesia following the hotel blast.


The tempo report did not make clear whether 10-15 was the total number of potential suicide bombers or whether each cell contained that number. Tempo based its account of Mustofa's confession on a police source. JI is believed linked to al-Qaeda.

The magazine said Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas, who is accused of having overall responsibility for the Bali bombing, belonged to one cell. Mustofa himself belonged to another cell "and there are still other cells yet to be caught," it said.

"They are armed and are experts at bomb-making," tempo's source said, adding that each group is commanded by a veteran of the Afghanistan war against the former Soviet Union.

Bureau Report