Jakarta
03 July 2008
Indonesian police discovered a supply of homemade bombs during a raidin South Sumatra. Nine people were arrested in connection with thediscovery and taken to the country's capital. Chad Bouchard reportsfrom Jakarta.
About 20 homemade bombs were found in the attic of a rented house in the city of Palembang in southern Sumatra.
Police General Inspector Ito Sumardi says that police could not immediately identify the suspects.
Hesays the suspects' identities are not yet clear, but police have takenfingerprints from the crime scene and sent them to another location tobe analyzed. He says they will have to wait one or two days for theresults.
Members of the anti-terrorism squad called Detachment88 were involved in the arrests. The squad is trained by experts fromthe United States and Australia.
News media have reported that one of the suspects is a fugitive from Singapore blamed for a plot to bomb an airport there.
Thatman, Mas Selamat Kastari, is alleged to be the Singapore leader ofJemaah Islamiah, a militant Islamic group based in Indonesia. The grouphas ties to the al-Qaida network.
JI is considered to beresponsible for a chain of bombings in Southeast Asia, including the2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people.
Dozens of menlinked to JI, which allegedly wants to establish an Islamic state inmuch of Southeast Asia, have been convicted in Indonesia on terrorismcharges.