Jakarta: Bombers’ bodies checked for clues

JAKARTA, Indonesia | The mangled faces of two suspected suicide attackers may be the main clue linking the bombings of two luxury American hotels in the Indonesian capital with a notorious al Qaeda-linked militant network that has struck many times before.

Investigators worked with medical teams Saturday to reconstruct the remains of the culprits believed to have set off explosions that tore through the restaurants of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton at breakfast-time the day before. Seven were killed, plus the two suspected attackers, and 50 wounded, many of them foreigners.

The method, target and type of bombs used in Friday’s attacks immediately raised suspicions of involvement by the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group and Noordin M. Top, the fugitive Malaysian national who heads a particularly violent offshoot of the network.

While National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said police “cannot say for sure whether Noordin M. Top led this bombing,” others were more certain.

“I’m 200 percent sure this was his work,” said Nasir Abbas, a former Jemaah Islamiyah leader turned police informant who has worked with police on investigations into Indonesia’s last three terrorist attacks.

A police investigator said Saturday that Noordin was the most likely suspect.

“Considering the target, the location and content of the bombs, it was clearly the work of Noordin,” the investigator said, declining to give his name because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

The investigator said a hotel receptionist told police that one of the suspected bombers who checked into the hotel days before gave his name as “Nurdin.” He gave a $1,000 cash deposit because he had no credit card, he said.

Noordin, an engineer and suspected bomb-maker, is accused of masterminding four major strikes in Indonesia with the help of al Qaeda that killed more than 240 people, including the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, a strike on the JW Marriott in 2003, and a huge blast at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004 when a ton of explosives was hidden in a delivery van.

Police said they were also following leads in the Cilacap region of Central Java, where explosives were reportedly found buried in a garden last week at the house of Noordin’s father-in-law, who is also at large.

Gen. Soekarna said there are similarities between the bombs found in Cilacap and Bali.

Investigators have been examining body parts and other forensic evidence from Friday’s attacks in an attempt to identify the two suspected bombers, one of whom is believed to be Indonesian.

Their bodies were badly damaged in the explosions - they were decapitated by the force - but confirming their identities could help determine if they knew Noordin.

Authorities say the bombers posed as guests before setting off the pair of blasts. They say the attackers evaded hotel security, smuggling explosives into the Marriott two days ahead of time and apparently assembled the bombs on the 18th floor, where an undetonated device was found after the explosions.

Police on Saturday confirmed the death of a third Australian - bringing the number of confirmed foreign fatalities to at least four - and said their earlier toll of nine had included the two bombers.

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