(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