Jakarta Indonesia: Bali Bombers Strike again

[abu afak]

(Looks like Jemaah Islamiah)

Police Highlight Bali Similarities in Jakarta Blast
Wed August 6, 2003 02:16 AM ET
By Dean Yates
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Police hunting for clues to who blew up a luxury hotel in the Indonesian capital said on Wednesday the explosives and the methods bore similarities to those used in last year's deadly Bali nightclub blasts. Tuesday's devastating car bomb attack, two days before the first Bali bomb trial verdict and after a spate of global terror warnings, killed up to 16 people in Jakarta's five-star, U.S.-managed JW Marriott Hotel.

Singapore's Straits Times reported that the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant Muslim group, widely blamed for the Bali carnage, had claimed responsibility for the latest blast.

The newspaper, which did not make clear how it had received the message, said "a JI operative" had described the attack as a "bloody warning" to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri not to clamp down on militants.

"This is a message for her and all our enemies that, if they execute any of our Muslim brothers, we will continue this campaign of terror in Indonesia and the region," it quoted the JI operative saying. It would be the first time JI has claimed responsibility for an attack.

Jakarta holds JI responsible for last October's Bali bombings, which killed 202, many of them Australian revelers in two nightclubs. Australian federal police have been working with local police on the Bali investigation, and more officers flew to Jakarta on Wednesday to help probe the hotel blast.


http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml...toryID=3227006

[Da Chuckstar]

Samudra welcomes Jakarta blast


On the eve of the first judgment day for the Bali bombers, the accused mastermind of the attack thanked God for the fatal bombing of a luxury hotel in Jakarta.

Imam Samudra, 33, said he hoped Tuesday's explosion at the Marriott Hotel had killed Jews and had been carried out by Muslims.

The Indonesian government has blamed the attack on Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the terrorist organisation to which Samudra is accused of belonging and which is also believed to be behind the fatal bombings at two Kuta Beach nightclubs 10 months ago.

Only one foreigner, a Dutchman, was confirmed to be among the 15 people killed in Tuesday's attack on the hotel favoured by Western diplomats and Australian government ministers.

"(I'm) happy. Thanks be to God," the 33-year-old Samudra declared as he was led out of court after appearing at a separate trial in Denpasar of a co-accused Bali bomber.

"If it's (the work of) Muslims, I'm happy. Especially if it was for Jews, hopefully," he said after shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) to the court.

He also singled out Australians for his wrath.

"Go to hell Australia. Where are the Australians?" he yelled.

Samudra, along with Amrozi and the accused chief of the Bali bombers, Muklas, all appeared in court as witnesses in the trial of Mubarok, who is accused of providing bank accounts and helping to prepare for the October 12 explosion in which 202 people died, including 88 Australians.

All three accused won the right not to testify against Mubarok, even though Indonesia's laws only allow for blood relations not to testify against each other.

The so-called smiling assassin, Amrozi, appeared confident, despite awaiting a verdict on Thursday on charges that he helped plan and carry out the Bali bombing.

Amrozi was probably oblivious to a report in the Singapore Straits Times that quoted an unnamed operative of the secretive network as saying: "This is a message for ... all our enemies that, if they execute any of our Muslim brothers, we will continue this campaign of terror in Indonesia and the region".

JI has never claimed responsibility for any of the fatal bombings in Indonesia they are accused of carrying out.

But the concern had hit home for Australian survivor Jake Ryan, who was severely injured by a one-tonne car bomb outside Bali's Sari Club.

Ryan, 22, said he had returned to Bali for a second time after confronting Samudra once before, abusing the accused as he left the courtroom several weeks ago.

Tuesday's attack in Jakarta had made Ryan want to get out of Indonesia, he said.

"I'm a bit nervous now actually, I was ready to jump on a plane last night and go home," he said.

"But ... I would be very unlucky if I got stuck in two."

He said he decided to stay because he had agreed with an Australian television network to come over for one week.

Amrozi, whose trial started in mid-May, was the first to be charged under Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws and faces a maximum sentence of death for allegedly planning and carrying out the Bali attack.

When asked by a reporter if he was afraid to die, Amrozi shot back: "No, do you want to try?"

Earlier, his co-accused older brother, an alleged JI leader, strode into the Bali court smiling broadly as evidence mounted the terror network had carried out Tuesday's Jakarta hotel bomb attack.

Muklas, or Ali Ghufron, yelled Allahu Akbar (God is Great) before and after telling the court he would not cooperate with proceedings.

Muklas, alleged to have been a leader of Jl, made no reference to Tuesday's attack on the Marriott.

Witnesses in the Bali trials have told the court that Muklas was the chief of a "Mantiqi", a chapter of JI covering Malaysia and Singapore.

Muklas himself has boasted of knowing Osama bin Laden, the chief of terrorist network al-Qaeda, when he fought against Russian forces in Afghanistan over a decade ago.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_50829.asp

[abu afak]

Originally posted by Da Chuckstar
Samudra welcomes Jakarta blast

....Imam Samudra, 33, said he hoped Tuesday's explosion at the Marriott Hotel had killed Jews and had been carried out by Muslims.....

....."(I'm) happy. Thanks be to God," the 33-year-old Samudra declared as he was led out of court after appearing at a separate trial in Denpasar of a co-accused Bali bomber.....

...."If it's (the work of) Muslims, I'm happy. Especially if it was for Jews, hopefully," he said after shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) to the court.....
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_50829.asp

Where do they learn this?

Is Hating Jews an Old Indonesian Custom? ...
Or an Islamic one.

[cerulean]

Most of the people killed were Indonesians, but that of course does not matter a whit to the terrorists and the terrorist supporters. This terrorist attack is meant to scare away people from working for American companies like Marriott and to scare away any foreign investment that would have a hope of improving the standard of living for 200 million plus Indonesians. Yet terrorist supporters somehow see this as a victory in their war on Jews. Who will point out this insanity?

[danholo]

Islamists are sick people. Nuff' said.

[L@mplighterM]

You reap what you sow! The Indonesian government has done very little to weed misfits from their society and they were certainly warned about al Queada before the Bali blast. Islamic fundamentalist are smart enough to realize that if they can inflict severe hurt on the Indonesian economy it’ll ripen that country for a takeover.

In some ways these third world countries are better equipped to fight Islamic fundamentalism because they could just hunt them down and execute the terrorists and/or their supporters.

The west’s problem in dealing with terrorism is that these individuals have a right to due process, that is time consuming and costly.

[abu afak]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...ial_xda106.jpg
also: http://haganah.us/haganah/DoS_media/...h_sentance.jpg

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, one of the key suspects in the Bali bombings, turns to face the spectators and gives thumbs up, after judges handed down death sentence, at his trial in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2003. In the first verdict over last year's Bali bombings, the Indonesian court convicted Amrozi and sentenced him to death for the attack that killed 202 people. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...168/4wuoa.html

[L@mplighterM]

The guy had a smile like a Cheshire cat when he was sentenced.

[abu afak]

Infidels had Bali coming, not that I did it, says Samudra
(and quotes Michael Moore!)
By Darren Goodsir in Denpasar, Bali

August 12, 2003



"You should remember what was done by Australia" . . . Imam Samudra leaves court yesterday. Photo: Rick Stevens

Reciting from the Koran, and rambling in Indonesian, Arabic and Balinese dialect, the alleged Kuta bombing field commander, Imam Samudra, yesterday swore that he had no knowledge of the attacks - but said they were justified as part of the Islamic struggle for freedom and respect.

Samudra, 33, a former textile salesman, read from hand-written notes and also used Australia's "invasion" of East Timor as part of his ideological rationale for the bombings.

"You should remember what was done by Australia and its allies over two years, or do you agree with the aggression against East Timor, that removed it from Indonesia," he said.

"Do you believe the infidel supporters of George W. Bush are the real vampires, are terrorists? Is there anyone in the world who does not know these facts?

"Death is not the thing I am scared of; I am only scared of Allah. I know that I will probably be given the death sentence, but all I have done is told the truth."

Samudra told the court that the howling demand from prosecutor, I Nyoman Dila, that he be executed had only fortified his faith in Allah.

He denied Bali was selected as a target because it had a large Hindu population and even apologised, in a Balinese dialect, to the Indonesian victims of the bombings - wishing them well with their recoveries.

But he refused to show remorse for westerners, saying he was grateful for the massive deaths in the Sari Club and Paddy's Irish Pub.

He rejected the damaging testimony given by his co-accused, Hernianto and Ali Imron, and also from Amrozi, who he claimed had been forced to tell lies because of torture. He asked for the court's blessing to be sworn in again as a witness in an upcoming Imron hearing, to reject errors in the testimony.

Samudra focused repeatedly on what he claimed were inconsistencies in the evidence, including the alleged manipulation of his laptop computer by Australian Federal Police officers, which made out he had advance knowledge of the bombings. He said he supported last week's Jakarta bombing, repeating his hope that the explosion was conducted by Muslims.

Samudra is also charged with a jewellery store robbery in west Java, funds from which the prosecution claims were used to finance the Kuta attacks, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. He also faces the death penalty for a string of church bombings on Christmas Eve, 2000, in which some explosives were allegedly wrapped like presents.

His defence was delivered in a theatrical, staccato style - at times whispering, and occasionally shouting. But there were scowls of disbelief from undercover police in court to many of his remarks, including the claim that the Bank of Central Asia, the institution used to transfer some of the terrorist funds, should also be charged.

His lawyer, Qaidar Faisal, later delivered an official defence submission. It argued about the real meaning of the jihad struggle, how Afghanistan under Taliban rile had been a pure nation, as its laws had been crafted by God and not humans.

Mr Faisal also quoted from American satirist Michael Moore's book Stupid White Men and other anti-western texts.

An Australian victim, Ben Tullipan, who lost both legs in the tragedy and part of his hearing, was at court. "It is hard to be in the same room as the bloke who did this," he told reporters. "It's all [what Samudra said] . . . it all takes a bit to sink in. I'm glad I came......""

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...588323997.html