Jakarta, Aug 06: Bomb ingredients found in the wreckage of the Jakarta hotel blast were the same as those used in last year's terrorist attack on the resort island of Bali, Indonesian Police said today, as they drew up sketches of two of the suspects. The national police force's chief detective, Erwin Mappaseng, also confirmed one man was killed inside the van that exploded yesterday outside the JW Marriott Hotel, but refused to be drawn on whether it was a suicide attack.
After a meeting at the office of top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mappaseng said there were similarities between the Jakarta attack and the one in Bali in October last year, blamed on regional terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
"From the modus (operandi), the materials and others, there are similarities," Mappaseng told journalists.
He said that traces of black powder, potassium chloride and TNT, all ingredients used in the Bali bombs, were found at the Marriott site.
Mappaseng said police had made two dummy sketches, one of the last known buyer of the van that was believed to have been used as the car bomb. The other is based on the head of a dead body found in the wreckage of the blown up van.
Mappaseng said the original owner of the van, identified as sonny, claimed to have sold it to an as yet unidentified person two weeks ago.
Bureau Report