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
