Indonesian police have arrested four terror suspects wanted in the September 9 suicide blast on the Australian Embassy, including the man who allegedly made the bomb. The arrests represent the first major breakthrough in the probe into the attack, which killed 10 people, including at least one suicide bomber. The suspects included a man called Sogir, who allegedly played a “significantly important” role in the bombing, national police chief Da’i Bachtiar said in Jakarta. “Ansori alias Sogir is capable of assembling a bomb….Sogir’s bomb was tested outside the Australian embassy.” Bachtiar said. The three other men captured were Rois, also known as Iwan Darmawan, Hasan and Apuy, Bachtiar added. Police have said they believe the bombing was the work of British-educated Malaysian engineer Azahari Husin and his countryman Noordin Top, both fugitives wanted in connection with previous bombings linked to Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiyah. Azahari is believed to be the chief bomb-maker for the Al-Qaeda-linked group. He is also accused of building the bombs used in last year’s attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people, and the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts that killed 202, many of them foreign tourists. Police blame both those attacks on Jemaah Islamiyah.Australia was quick to congratulate Indonesian authorities, saying the arrests would help curb terrorist activities in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. “Rounding up more of these people, particularly those who are organisers for terrorist attacks in Indonesia, is very promising,” Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters in Adelaide.Full Story
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