By Alan Sipress, The Hamilton Spectator
Imam Samudra, the alleged ringleader of the plot to attack Bali’s nightclub district last month, has told investigators he was behind the bombings that killed nearly 200 people, Indonesia’s national police chief said Friday.
One day after Samudra was arrested, Chief Da’i Bachtiar said the 35-year-old suspect has also admitted to police he was involved in a series of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 in which 19 people were killed, and a blast in the capital of Jakarta’s Atrium Mall the following year.
“He confessed to the meetings in Solo on the planning and other things until they led to the decision to conduct bombings in Bali,” Bachtiar told a news conference after interrogating Samudra at a police station in a western town on the island of Java, near where he was taken into custody on Thursday.
Solo is a city in central Java.
On the holiday island of Bali, off the far eastern shore of Java, Major General I Made Pastika, chief of the multinational investigation into the Bali blasts, said “we have lots of evidence” against Samudra, who received training in Afghanistan.
Investigations into Samudra’s activities are continuing, Pastika said, in search of “any broader network, because there are indications Samudra has a new plan.” Pastika provided no details.
Police officials said they now believe that two terrorist cells participated in the Oct. 12 attacks in Bali. One cell, consisting of militants from Lamongan in eastern Java, carried out the devastating attack on the Sari Club. This group included an auto mechanic named Amrozi, another key suspect in the blast, who was captured Nov. 5 and has admitted owning the van used to bomb the club and to buying explosives.
Another group of extremists was responsible for a smaller explosion moments earlier at Paddy’s bar across the street. Investigators said a total of 12 suspects were involved.
Police said they now believe the blast at Paddy’s was detonated by a suicide bomber. The two sites were chosen because they drew crowds of “white foreigners,” police said.