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Marriott blast suspects named
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian police have publicly identified nine suspects arrested in connection with this month's bomb attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in central Jakarta. Lt. Gen. Erwin Mapasseng said Tuesday six of the suspects were arrested between April and June, but confessed after the blast to helping plan and finance the hotel attack. The other three were picked up in the days after the car bomb attack on suspicion of bringing the explosives to Jakarta from Sumatra island, Mapasseng said. Twelve people died and nearly 150 were injured after a suicide bomber blew up a car parked with explosives outside the U.S.-owned Marriott Hotel in the commercial business of the capital on August 5. Authorities blame Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a local militant group that is trying to set up a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia, for the blast. Indonesia's national police chief Gen Da'i Bachtiar first announced arrests of nine suspects in the Marriott attack on Sunday, but he did not identify the men or provide details about them. One of the suspects, Idris -- alias Jhoni Hendrawan -- recruited alleged suicide bomber, Asmar Latin Sani, whose body parts were found among the debris of the Marriott blast, Mapasseng said. The 28-year-old Sani was at the wheel of the car when it exploded after pulling up to the hotel, police said earlier. His head was found on the fifth floor of the hotel. Hendrawan was also involved in last year's nightclub bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, he said. Another detainee, Toni Togar, allegedly robbed a bank and used the money to finance the hotel bombing, police said. Money trail
Police are still hunting for five men described as the key planners of the Marriott attack, including two Malaysians identified as Dr. Azahari Husin and Nurdin Top and an Indonesian called Zulkarnaen. Mapasseng said Zulkarnaen led an elite militant squad, whose members were recruited from hundreds of Indonesian who trained in Afghanistan and the Philippines. Azahari, an electronics expert, is suspected of building the Marriott car bomb as well as designing the supervising the construction of the main bomb used in the Bali blasts. Police are also tracing a $45,000 money trail from a top JI operative, Hambali -- also known as Riduan Isamuddin, who was arrested last week in Thailand. Hambali, believed to be the link man between JI and the al Qaeda terror network, is being interrogated by the CIA at an undisclosed location, U.S. officials have said. He is suspected of being involved in both the Bali and Marriott bombings in Indonesia as well as other terror plots including the September 11, 2001 attacks. Mapasseng said $45,000 was supplied by Hambali in June to finance bombing operations in Indonesia. "Hambali sent the money from Thailand via a Malaysian who went to Indonesia and gave it to one of the bombers, possibly to fund the (Marriott) attack," Mapasseng told reporters. Police are investigating whether the money was used to fund the attack, he added. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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