•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Hard-line cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has denied alleged links to the group behind the Cirebon bombs, his aide said on Friday.

“I reiterate that Ustad [teacher] Abu has nothing to do with the Cirebon bombing,” Hasyim Abdullah said at the National Police headquarters shortly before visiting the cleric.

Police have alleged that the group behind the suicide bombing of a mosque in Cirebon in April, as well as the six pipe bombs later found disposed of in a river, are connected to Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, a radical Islamic group founded by Bashir.

Police also said on Friday that at least one fugitive was believed to be in possession of 15 more bombs.

“The ustad has even condemned the mosque bombing. Mosques are places where worshipers gather to pray,” Hasyim said.

Bashir, according Hasyim, did not recognize any of the suspects allegedly involved in the mosque bombing, including Muhammad Syarif, the suicide bomber.

“I don’t know how the police came to such an assumption,” he said.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said in a press conference in Cirebon on Thursday that Syarif and nine other suspects were directly sworn in as JAT members by Bashir in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in 2008.

Brig. Gen. Muhammad Syafii, who heads the National Police’s elite counterterrorism unit, Densus 88, has said that police were looking into the possibility of adding new charges against Bashir in light of the findings.

The 72-year-old cleric is already facing charges of leading fund-raising efforts for the paramilitary training camp in Aceh uncovered last year.

Prosecutors have sought a life sentence for Bashir, believing that he is guilty of mobilizing people for acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, National Police spokesman for general affairs, said they were tracking down Heru Komaruddin, one of the wanted suspects linked to the Cirebon bombing, who is believed to be in possession of 15 explosive devices.

“We believe Heru, currently on the police’s wanted list, is carrying as many as 15 active pipe bombs,” Boy said.

Besides Heru, police are seeking four other suspects in connection with the bombing. Those under pursuit include Ahmad Yosep Hayat, who is believed to have been prepared to conduct another suicide bombing, and Beni Asri, who is thought to have helped hide a bomber.

Police are also after Nanang Irawan, also known as Gendut or Ndut, who is suspected to be linked to another bombing in Klaten, Central Java, and Yadi Al Hasan, who also uses the names Abu Fatih and Vijay, who is believed to have hidden the Klaten bomber and ordered the training for the Cirebon bombing.

Police have so far arrested 13 suspects believed to be part of the network behind the Cirebon bombing and shot dead three others.

Boy said that judging from the number of pipe bombs the group had prepared, it was obvious they were planning to bomb other targets. “We do not yet specifically know what their targets are, but what is important is that they are police related,” Boy said.

 

Additional reporting by Antara