Indonesia Death Toll Rises to 9
JAKARTA, Indonesia — As the death toll in Thursday's bombing of the Australian Embassy climbed to nine, police intensified their hunt for the man they believe is the master bomb builder behind the attack: a Malaysian mathematician named Azahari bin Husin.
Police said the car bomb, which injured more than 170 people, was the work of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network and its explosives expert, Azahari, who allegedly made bombs used in the group's earlier attacks in Bali and Jakarta. Those blasts killed a total of 214 people.
"From our analysis, the bomb maker is Dr. Azahari," National Police Chief Dai Bachtiar said within hours of the embassy attack. "Dr. Azahari has the expertise. He has the ability. That's why our main target is to capture him."
The explosion in central Jakarta left a scene of devastation outside the embassy gate. Corpses and body parts were scattered in the street. Cars and motorcycles were destroyed or damaged. Part of the gate was flattened. Hundreds of windows in nearby buildings were shattered. The explosion was heard as far as nine miles away.
Lt. Gen. Suyitno Landung, Indonesia's chief of detectives, said investigators suspected that the attack was carried out by at least one suicide bomber. A witness reported seeing a car with people inside explode, he said.
Terrorism suspects who had been arrested before the attack told police that three men had been trained as suicide bombers. Authorities are attempting to identify parts of as many as three people at the scene to see if they might have been bombers.
"We don't know who they are yet because it is body parts," Landung said.
Police said Australians were the intended target, but nearly all the victims were Indonesians, including several guarding the embassy.
One of the dead was a 32-year-old Indonesian riding his motorcycle past the embassy. Another was a 30-year-old woman whose 5-year-old daughter was seriously injured.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters that the bomb exploded about 12 feet from the embassy gate. Officials said no workers inside the embassy were seriously hurt. A dozen suffered minor injuries, most caused by flying glass. Security precautions and fortification apparently prevented serious damage and injury.
Jemaah Islamiah purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a radical Islamic website, saying it was punishing Australia for supporting the war in Iraq, Associated Press reported.
- Bali Was Named a Target in February, Police Say Dec 13, 2002
- Philippines Arrests 2 Tied to Terror Financing Oct 24, 2003
- Setbacks to Terrorists Won't Halt Attacks, Officials Say Aug 17, 2003
