Jakarta, Aug 17: Indonesian Police have arrested nine suspects in connection with last week's attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta which killed 12 people and injured nearly 150, the national police chief said today. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the nine individuals had been picked up in separate raids over the past week. He gave no further details.
On Friday, police said they had detained one suspect and were interrogating several others in connection with the attack on Aug. 5 in downtown Jakarta.
The speed with which the arrests were made in the latest bombing indicates that police may have the same degree of success in solving the Marriott bombing as they had with last October's bombings of two nightclubs on the tourist island of Bali, in which 202 people died.
In the ensuing months, police arrested nearly three dozen suspects. The first of these to face trial, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, was convicted last week and sentenced to be executed by firing squad. He is now appealing his conviction.
Bachtiar's announcement came two days after the arrest in Thailand of Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, head of the al-Qaida linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah that is blamed for both the Bali and Marriott blasts. He is now being interrogated by U.S. investigators at an unknown location.
Indonesia has said it would demand access to Hambali and his eventual extradition to stand trial here. Yesterday, president Megawati Sukarnoputri telephoned US president George W Bush to discuss the matter, foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda said today after a national day ceremony at the presidential palace.
Bureau Report