Bombings Indonesia

Authorities said Sunday that they have arrested 25 people suspected of carrying out a series of bombings in this capital, including one blast that claimed 15 lives earlier in the month at the Jakarta Stock Exchange. Police said the suspects admitted that they had planned to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta as well as the Sarinah department store, one of the city's biggest and most crowded. One man was arrested with grenades on his way to carry out an attack, police said.

Special forces raided a hide-out Thursday and killed militant leader Noordin Mohammad Top, striking at the heart of the terrorist network behind a deadly campaign of suicide attacks in Indonesia, including bombings of nightclubs in Bali. Besides knocking out one of Southeast Asia's most-wanted fugitives, the operation also killed a man believed to have designed explosives for twin suicide bombings in July at hotels in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. Noordin, 41, had eluded capture for more than seven years.

Bomb blasts today in the eastern part of the Indonesian capital hit two churches, witnesses said, including one where Mass was being celebrated. At least 43 people were hurt, including a man who lost a leg. The explosions were the latest to rock Jakarta and come at a time of heightened political tensions as President Abdurrahman Wahid fights to stay in office. Police blamed unidentified forces seeking to disrupt proceedings to oust Wahid.

Two powerful bomb blasts targeting major international hotels rocked the business district of the Indonesian capital today, killing nine people and wounding at least 50 others. Authorities did not immediately identify the perpetrators of the explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta, but anti-terrorism forces were at the scenes of both explosions.

At least five civilians were killed and 25 wounded when a grenade exploded near the border between East and West Timor, U.N. military sources said. The attack occurred in Indonesian West Timor just four miles from Australian U.N. troop headquarters in Balibo in East Timor, the sources said. No group had been identified as being responsible. East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999, triggering a revenge campaign of killing and destruction by pro-Indonesia gangs.

A court sentenced an army corporal and a former soldier to life in prison Wednesday for a blast at the Indonesian stock exchange in September that killed 15 people. Prosecutors had demanded death for ex-Sgt. Irwan Ilyas and Cpl. Ibrahim Hasan. "Both were soldiers who knew what such an explosion can do . . . so they took lives on purpose," Judge Purwono told the court. Both had pleaded not guilty to possessing and using explosives, causing death and damage.

Police investigating a series of bombings in this capital arrested two members of the armed forces after a shootout, officers said Monday. Newly installed national police chief Gen. Bimantoro Suroyo said the two had acted as individuals and denied suggestions that the military as a whole was behind the blasts, which included an explosion at the Jakarta Stock Exchange on Sept. 13 that killed 15 people.

Raising fears of heightened political instability in Indonesia, a car bomb exploded Wednesday in the garage of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. The midday blast triggered a chain reaction of explosions in the underground garage as scores of other vehicles caught fire, authorities said. Some of those killed had been trapped in the debris for hours before rescuers could reach them.

Bombs exploded outside churches in Jakarta and five other Indonesian cities and towns on Christmas Eve, killing at least 14 people, injuring dozens and worsening the already difficult relations between Muslims and Christians throughout the fractured archipelago. The blasts--including one outside Jakarta's main Roman Catholic church, near the presidential palace and the main mosque--occurred as prayer services were about to get underway Sunday night.

A man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his involvement in a spate of deadly bomb attacks on churches and other buildings across Indonesia last Christmas Eve, an official said. The attacks killed 19 and injured more than 100 in Jakarta, the capital, and other cities. Agus Kurniawan, 23, was found guilty of illegally possessing explosives and assisting with the blasts, said an official at the prosecutor's office in Bandung, southeast of Jakarta.

A jailed member of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network testified Thursday that Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was the group's leader and approved the bombing of churches and a shopping mall in Indonesia. Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a Malaysian who allegedly played a key role in Southeast Asian terrorist plots before his 2001 arrest in Singapore, also said Bashir had called a meeting to plan the assassination of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

When Brian Webster paddled into the waves breaking off Newport Beach on Saturday, he felt sure his beloved older brother Steven was alongside him, as he'd always been since childhood. "I felt his presence -- I felt my brother's spirit here," said Webster, 40, as he joined 250 fellow surfers who turned out to pay tribute to their comrade, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Indonesia. "We loved the water ever since we were kids." Steven Webster was killed Oct.

A car bomb that killed at least 188 people on the island of Bali was the work of the Al Qaeda network with help from home-grown terrorists, Indonesia's defense minister said Monday. As investigators from the United States, Australia and Indonesia searched for clues in the rubble of a popular nightclub district, Defense Minister Matori Abdul Jalil told reporters there was no question that Osama bin Laden's group was behind the blast.

A court sentenced an army corporal and a former soldier to life in prison Wednesday for a blast at the Indonesian stock exchange in September that killed 15 people. Prosecutors had demanded death for ex-Sgt. Irwan Ilyas and Cpl. Ibrahim Hasan. "Both were soldiers who knew what such an explosion can do . . . so they took lives on purpose," Judge Purwono told the court. Both had pleaded not guilty to possessing and using explosives, causing death and damage.

Bomb blasts today in the eastern part of the Indonesian capital hit two churches, witnesses said, including one where Mass was being celebrated. At least 43 people were hurt, including a man who lost a leg. The explosions were the latest to rock Jakarta and come at a time of heightened political tensions as President Abdurrahman Wahid fights to stay in office. Police blamed unidentified forces seeking to disrupt proceedings to oust Wahid.

A man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his involvement in a spate of deadly bomb attacks on churches and other buildings across Indonesia last Christmas Eve, an official said. The attacks killed 19 and injured more than 100 in Jakarta, the capital, and other cities. Agus Kurniawan, 23, was found guilty of illegally possessing explosives and assisting with the blasts, said an official at the prosecutor's office in Bandung, southeast of Jakarta.

Two powerful bomb blasts targeting major international hotels rocked the business district of the Indonesian capital today, killing nine people and wounding at least 50 others. Authorities did not immediately identify the perpetrators of the explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta, but anti-terrorism forces were at the scenes of both explosions.

A jailed member of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network testified Thursday that Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was the group's leader and approved the bombing of churches and a shopping mall in Indonesia. Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a Malaysian who allegedly played a key role in Southeast Asian terrorist plots before his 2001 arrest in Singapore, also said Bashir had called a meeting to plan the assassination of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

At least five civilians were killed and 25 wounded when a grenade exploded near the border between East and West Timor, U.N. military sources said. The attack occurred in Indonesian West Timor just four miles from Australian U.N. troop headquarters in Balibo in East Timor, the sources said. No group had been identified as being responsible. East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999, triggering a revenge campaign of killing and destruction by pro-Indonesia gangs.

Bombs exploded outside churches in Jakarta and five other Indonesian cities and towns on Christmas Eve, killing at least 14 people, injuring dozens and worsening the already difficult relations between Muslims and Christians throughout the fractured archipelago. The blasts--including one outside Jakarta's main Roman Catholic church, near the presidential palace and the main mosque--occurred as prayer services were about to get underway Sunday night.