INDONESIA: Indonesian police identified five men yesterday wanted for this month's bomb attack at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel and said militant leader Hambali had provided up to $45,000 to fund bombings in the country.
Chief of detectives Mr Erwin Mappaseng said the five suspects in the Marriott attack included two Malaysians believed to have been involved in the Bali blasts last year that killed 202 people.
One of them was Dr Azahari Husin, an academic who has become the top bomb-maker for the Jemaah Islamiah militant network.
Mr Mappaseng said police were still investigating whether some of Hambali's money was used for the August 5th bombing at the Marriott, which killed 12 people and wounded 150.
"There were funds transferred by Hambali in June of as much as $45,000 for Indonesian bombing operations," he told reporters.
Hambali, who authorities say is the mastermind of the al-Qaeda- linked Jemaah Islamiah group blamed for the Bali bombings, was arrested last week in Thailand.
The Marriott blast was the worst militant attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation after Bali. A Thai security official said a Malaysian al-Qaeda operative nicknamed Li-Li, who had acted as Hambali's messenger and had searched for hideouts for him, led authorities to the militant. The official, who was speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, was confirming a report in Malaysia's Star newspaper that said Li-Li was arrested in Bangkok on August 11th.
The arrest led to the swoop on Hambali's apartment in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya by a joint Thai-CIA team four hours later. Hambali was handed over to US authorities who flew him to a secret location for questioning.
"Yes, it is correct as reported," the Thai source said. "He [Li-Li] has already been handed to the Malaysian authorities."
Dr Azahari, one of the five being sought for the Marriott bombing, was suspected of building the car bomb used to blow up the lobby of the hotel, Mr Mappaseng said.
Dr Azahari is an electronics expert also accused of designing and supervising the car bomb that did the most damage in the Bali attacks. He is a 46-year-old former professor of statistics who has studied in Britain and Australia and has trained as an Islamic militant in Afghanistan and the Philippines.