Terror suspects tell of aborted cafe bomb plot

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-4  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MILITANTS linked to Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect placed three bombs in a cafe in western Indonesia, but aborted their attack after realizing the victims would have been Muslims, police said yesterday.

The revelation came during the interrogation of 10 men who were arrested this week on Sumatra Island. Twenty-two explosives were also seized, many packed with bullets to maximize the impact of the blasts, said police spokesman Major General Abubakar Nataprawira.

The arrests highlighted the lingering terror threat in Indonesia, which has been hit by a string of suicide bombings in recent years, including the 2002 Bali nightclubs attacks that thrust the Muslim nation on to the front lines in the war on terrorism.

Many of the 240 people killed in the blasts, blamed on the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiyah, have been foreign tourists.

Some of the men rounded up this week said they initially planned to attack Westerners at Kafe Bedudel, a small cafe in the hilly Sumatran resort town of Bukittinggi, even placing timed explosives inside at one point, a senior police officer who took part in the arrests said.

They aborted the mission after realizing many of the victims would have been Muslims, deciding instead to choose a target in the capital, Jakarta, he said.

At least 22 bombs were seized during raids on Wednesday in Palembang, a coastal city on Sumatra, many ready to use, said Nataprawira. Explosive powder, grenades and electric detonators were also recovered.

Indonesia's government has won praise for arresting and convicting hundreds of Islamic militants since 2002, leaving Jemaah Islamiyah severely weakened and isolated.

Citing improvements in security, the United States lifted a travel warning early this year that had been in place since 2000. There were no plans to reverse that decision.