Jakarta bombers' ties are clearer but IDs still unknown

By The New York Times
Published: July 19, 2009

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JAKARTA, Indonesia --

Indonesian officials struggled Saturday to identify the two suicide bombers behind the deadly attacks Friday at two American hotels in Jakarta, even as they said more clearly that the men appeared to have had ties to a Malaysian Islamic extremist.

A high-ranking Indonesian security official said the nature of the attacks indicated strongly that the bombers had ties to Malaysian extremist Noordin Muhammad Top, who has long been the most-wanted terrorist in Southeast Asia.

Noordin is suspected of being the mastermind behind the bombing at a nightclub in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, among other attacks.

Indonesian officials said initially that the bombs used at the hotels, the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton, were high explosives, with elements usually found in military-grade bombs. But they said Saturday that the bombs - homemade and filled with nails - were similar to ones used by Noordin and his allies.

The New York Times