Bali Bombings

Hundreds of people gathered at the site of the 2002 Bali bombings to mourn the more than 200 killed and send a defiant message to the Islamic extremists behind the attack. Most of those attending were Australian relatives of the victims or survivors of the Oct. 12 blasts. Several hundred tourists also were present. Victims of the bombings at two packed nightclubs came from 22 countries, including seven from the United States.

A leading Southeast Asian terrorism suspect reportedly killed in a gun battle with police at a village hide-out was planning a suicide car bomb attack against Indonesia's president, the national police chief said. Police said they could not confirm that the body recovered from the house in central Java was that of Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian, until DNA tests are completed. Noordin is suspected of having masterminded Southeast Asia's worst terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings.

At least nine Islamic militants jailed for the 2002 Bali bombings got four-month reductions in their sentences to mark Indonesia's independence day, a Justice Ministry official said. They played relatively minor roles in the suicide bombings, including carrying out robberies to finance the attacks and helping shelter suspects. The sentence reductions could anger countries that lost citizens in the twin nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Saud Usman Nasution recently took the helm of Special Detachment 88, the Indonesian anti-terrorism police squad formed in 2002 after bombers linked to Al Qaeda killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali. He spoke last month in his headquarters office about progress in the fight against terrorists, including the group responsible for the Bali bombings, and the challenges ahead. -- Indonesia hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 2005. Has Jemaah Islamiah in particular, and terrorism in general, been defeated in Indonesia?

Imam Samudra, the Muslim extremist who espouses a bitter hatred for Americans and Jews, was sentenced to death Wednesday for coordinating last October's double suicide attack in Bali that killed 202 people. The 33-year-old Samudra, who earlier said he would welcome execution because it would bring him closer to God, nervously stroked his wispy beard as a five-judge panel delivered the sentence. He cried out "Allahu akbar!" -- God is great -- when the verdict was handed down.

WANASABA, Indonesia -- An identity card found at the scene of a car bombing in Bali more than a week ago leads to a remote village in the middle of rice paddies and coconut groves. Mohammed Fawazi, 20, is said to have lived here in the back of a two-story schoolhouse on the eastern side of Lombok island. He hasn't been seen since the Oct. 12 blast ripped through the heart of a Balinese resort town, killing and wounding hundreds, many of them young Australians.

The United States said bombings were possible in Indonesia over Christmas and the New Year, and urged Americans there to avoid churches, nightclubs and shopping centers. Since the Oct. 12 Bali bombings that killed at least 191 people, the U.S., Britain and scores of other Western countries have warned citizens not to travel to Indonesia. In 2000, a series of bombs exploded at churches across the country on Christmas Eve, killing 19 people.

A leading Southeast Asian terrorism suspect reportedly killed in a gun battle with police at a village hide-out was planning a suicide car bomb attack against Indonesia's president, the national police chief said. Police said they could not confirm that the body recovered from the house in central Java was that of Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian, until DNA tests are completed. Noordin is suspected of having masterminded Southeast Asia's worst terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings.

The Philippine military began DNA tests to determine if remains found in a jungle grave are those of an elusive terrorism suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings. A captured militant from the Abu Sayyaf group led government troops to a grave in the province of Tawi Tawi that contained a body bearing gunshot wounds and closely resembling the man known as Dulmatin, officials said. "We are conducting DNA test to confirm if it's really his body," said marine commandant Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino.

Two skilled bomb makers who allegedly assembled the deadly Bali car bombs last year are likely suspects in the Marriott hotel blast in Jakarta last week that killed 11 people, police said Monday. Azahari bin Husin, a Malaysian university lecturer, and Dulmatin, an Indonesian electronics expert, have evaded a manhunt for the last nine months.

The Philippine military began DNA tests to determine if remains found in a jungle grave are those of an elusive terrorism suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings. A captured militant from the Abu Sayyaf group led government troops to a grave in the province of Tawi Tawi that contained a body bearing gunshot wounds and closely resembling the man known as Dulmatin, officials said. "We are conducting DNA test to confirm if it's really his body," said marine commandant Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino.

At least nine Islamic militants jailed for the 2002 Bali bombings got four-month reductions in their sentences to mark Indonesia's independence day, a Justice Ministry official said. They played relatively minor roles in the suicide bombings, including carrying out robberies to finance the attacks and helping shelter suspects. The sentence reductions could anger countries that lost citizens in the twin nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Investigators announced that they had arrested a man who allegedly shared a house with three suicide bombers who killed 20 people this month in Bali, Indonesia. The 45-year-old construction worker, identified only as Hasan, disappeared three days before the restaurant bombings and was tracked down in neighboring East Java province, said chief detective Capt. Wahyu Wim Hardjanto. He was being questioned by police in Bali.

Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of heading the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, was found guilty today of taking part in an "evil conspiracy" to carry out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. But the five-judge panel cleared Bashir of most of the charges against him and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years, a relatively light sentence in recognition that the prosecution's case was not very strong.

Hundreds of people gathered at the site of the 2002 Bali bombings to mourn the more than 200 killed and send a defiant message to the Islamic extremists behind the attack. Most of those attending were Australian relatives of the victims or survivors of the Oct. 12 blasts. Several hundred tourists also were present. Victims of the bombings at two packed nightclubs came from 22 countries, including seven from the United States.

An Afghan-trained Indonesian militant who tearfully apologized to victims' relatives during his trial was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for helping plan and finance the Bali nightclub bombings in which 202 people were killed. Mubarok, 34, whose real name is Hutumo Pamungkas, was found guilty of attending meetings to plan the Oct. 12, 2002, blasts and using his bank account to deposit money that was used to buy chemicals and a minivan for the attack.

Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of heading the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, was found guilty today of taking part in an "evil conspiracy" to carry out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. But the five-judge panel cleared Bashir of most of the charges against him and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years, a relatively light sentence in recognition that the prosecution's case was not very strong.

The previously unsolved bombing of the Philippine ambassador's residence here in 2000 was the work of terrorism suspects who helped carry out the deadly Bali bombings two years later, police said Tuesday. Police named 14 people -- many of them known members of the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah -- as suspects in the car bombing that killed two people and severely wounded the ambassador, Leonides Caday, in August 2000.

The Islamic terrorist who coordinated last year's Bali nightclub bombings was sentenced to death Thursday as authorities in the region searched for missiles and bombs alleged to be in the hands of his confederates. Ali Gufron, a cleric and teacher better known by the alias Mukhlas, was found guilty of plotting, organizing and carrying out the attack, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Imam Samudra, the Muslim extremist who espouses a bitter hatred for Americans and Jews, was sentenced to death Wednesday for coordinating last October's double suicide attack in Bali that killed 202 people. The 33-year-old Samudra, who earlier said he would welcome execution because it would bring him closer to God, nervously stroked his wispy beard as a five-judge panel delivered the sentence. He cried out "Allahu akbar!" -- God is great -- when the verdict was handed down.