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Detention of Indonesian cleric extended
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesia has decided to extend the detention of terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the militant Islamic cleric held in connection with a series of attacks. Announcing the decision the Attorney General's office said Wednesday Ba'asyir could not by held by police until the end of the year. Ba'asyir -- currently in detention at a police hospital due to illness -- was arrested after an al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody pinpointed him as a terrorist mastermind. Among other things, he was alleged have been involved in a series of church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 and to be involved in a plot to assassinate Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. According to police, Ba'asyir may also have been involved in a string of bomb attacks in Indonesia that killed at least 16 and injured nearly 50 others on Christmas Eve in 2000. Ba'asyir has however not been officially linked to last month's Bali bombing attacks that killed about 180 people. However, Western intelligence agencies have named the cleric as the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the al Qaeda-linked group suspected of plotting, funding and carrying out the Bali bombings. Ba'asyir has so far refused to answer police questions, but investigators have said they will present their case to prosecutors shortly, whether he talks or not. Hunt continuesMeanwhile police are continuing to hunt several other members of the JI they believe were involved in the actual building and detonation of the Bali bombs. On Sunday police released pictures of the six suspects they want to question, including one man -- Imam Samudra -- they say was the chief planner of the attack. (Click here to see the new sketches) According to intelligence sources Samudra is also a member of the JI. At least 180 people died in the October 12 bombings in the popular Bali resort town of Kuta. The majority of the dead and injured were young Australian tourists. A seventh suspect, named only as Amrozi, is already in custody in connection with the blasts. All the men named by police so far as having been involved in the attack are said to have Ba'asyir.
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