Bali Investigation Update
By Zachary Abuza
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Indonesian police have interviewed 39 witnesses in conjunction with Saturday night�s three suicide bombings. They have admitted that two people are in custody, though they have not charged them as suspects. Police acknowledged that one of the two has identified one of the bombers. Police have conducted raids of suspected safe houses in Bali (at least three rented homes in Bali's capital, Denpasar), and Java. For the full SMH article click here. link
Nine-volt batteries found at the scene suggest that the suicide bombers manually detonated their devices, rather than relying on remote cell phone detonation. One eyewitness from one of the two Jimbaran Beach bombings has told investigators he saw a suicide bomber unzip his jacket and perhaps pull a cord, triggering the device.
Also recovered at scenes were ball bearings, batteries, cables and detonators. In a related note, many of these materials as well as TNT were recovered by Indonesian police in a July 2005 raid on a militant safe-house in East Java.
Right now the investigation is focused on the positive identification of the bombers, essential both to the investigation in that it will help authorities identify the other cell members but also identify the channels in which people are being recruited. For example, from a CT perspective, it makes a large difference whether these individuals come out of the conflict regions of Poso or Sulawesi or if they are middle-class urbanites or if they are students from radical madrassas.
The Indonesian government continues to rebuff international calls to ban JI. Under the current law, membership within JI is technically not illegal.