INDONESIA: Indonesia has launched a huge publicity campaign to identify the three suicide bombers who killed 22 people on the island of Bali on Saturday and to track down their accomplices, after detectives admitted they had few new leads.
A senior counter-terrorism official said the investigation was focusing on Islamist terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Brig Soenarko, a police spokesman, said investigators had yet to identify the bombers despite pictures of their heads - recovered from the bomb sites - appearing in the media.
"We are now going to publish pamphlets with their information on. We have also launched telephone hotlines and a special SMS number. We hope that we can identify them quickly so we can then find their accomplices, who are still at large. The big question is who was the designer of this operation and who recruited the bombers."
Head of the security ministry's counter-terrorism office Ansyaad Mbai yesterday said it was "very likely" that the masterminds were Azahari Husin and Noordin Top, Malaysian bombmakers and JI operatives, or people close to them. "We believe the investigation will head in that direction because there are many similarities with their previous operations. The use of suicide bombers and the carefully co-ordinated attacks, for example."
He said officers had spoken to Nasir Abbas, a former JI operative who has given evidence against former colleagues.
Tourism chiefs warned that Bali's economy would suffer. Ben Sukma, of the association of Indonesian travel agents, said foreign counterparts were now extremely wary after the second big terrorist attack in three years.
"Some doubt our security [ forces] can prevent this [ from happening] again," he added.
Others believe the slump will not be as bad as after the 2002 attack that killed 202 people, when tourist arrivals fell 30 per cent. "I think the age we live in now is a new normal," said Peter Semone, vice-president of the Pacific Association of Travel Agents. "I think the consumer and traveller is much more resilient than before."
A ceremony was held yesterday at the site of the Jimbaran bombings to cleanse the site of dead people's spirits. The first funeral of a local victim - Gusti Ketut Sudama (32), a waiter in Kuta - also took place. - (Guardian service)