Bali bombers IDed by heads

2005-10-03 16:22

Bali - Investigators hunting for the masterminds of three suicide bombings on the popular resort island of Bali hoped on Monday to identify the bombers using photographs of their severed heads circulating in newspapers nationwide.

Police also sought three accomplices believed to still be on the Indonesian resort island, and enlisted a former operative of Southeast Asia's top terror group to help track down the plotters of Saturday's attack, which killed at least 22 people and wounded 104.

Death tolls have varied because the blasts dismembered the bodies, making them hard to count.

The suspects in the near-simultaneous bombings on three crowded restaurants were believed to have been fitted with explosive belts that blew apart their torsos.

But their heads were intact, swollen and bruised but remarkably well-preserved, said Indonesian anti-terror official Major General Ansyaad Mbai.

The heads - and a chilling video capturing a suspected bomber strolling past diners at one of the cafes moments before it was blown up - could provide a tremendous boost to the investigation.

Safe houses

Results could come within days, he said, adding three other people suspected of involvement were probably still at large on Bali.

"If the past is any precedent, they have planned safe houses and are lying low, letting the first dragnet pass over head," said Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security consultant and author of an upcoming book on terrorism in Southeast Asia.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks at two seafood cafes on Jimbaran beach and a noodle-and-steak house in the bustling tourist centre of Kuta, all packed with diners on the busiest night of the week.

The bombs went off within six minutes of each other.

But suspicion immediately fell on the al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to several deadly bombings in the world's most populous Muslim country, including the 2002 attacks on two crowded nightclubs on Bali that killed 202 people.

Southeast Asian intelligence officials have repeatedly warned that the group could be orchestrating a major attack in the region and, fearing more strikes in the days ahead, were clamping down.

Thailand, which draws millions of sun-seeking tourists every year, put all of its major resort areas on full alert on Monday after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned that terrorists "are commuting and rotating around in the region".

Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia were also on heightened alert.

- AP