The Jakarta Post, (11/18/2001 6:09:44 PM)
Police to question Muslim group over bombings
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police said on Sunday they would summon for questioning a
spokesman of Muslim group Darul Islam, Al Chaidar, after he alleged that its splinter
factions were behind recent bomb attacks in Indonesia, reports said.
"Any information would be very useful for us to solve the bombings case and to
anticipate the reoccurrence of such incidents," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr.
Anton Bachrul Alam said on Sunday.
Police would be interested in questioning Al Chaidar over his statement on two recent
blasts at the Australian International School in South Jakarta and the Petra Protestant
Church in North Jakarta earlier this November, Anton said.
"We have evidence that the bombing was politically motivated and linked to Muslim
groups and in this specific case is connected to the U.S.-led bombings in
Afghanistan," the officer said.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that theblast at the Australian
International School was connected to anti-Western sentiment resulting from the
U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan while the bombing at Petra Protestant Church in Koja,
North Jakarta, was linked to sectarian conflicts in strife-torn Maluku.
It is the first time police have linked attacks against Westerners in Indonesia and the
U.S.-led bombings in Afghanistan.
Anti-Western sentiment in Indonesia has largely been confined to small but vocal
Muslim groups who have staged demonstrations in front of the U.S. embassy.
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