Bali bombers 'aimed to kill Americans'

The Bali bombers aimed to kill as many Americans as possible and were displeased to discover most of the victims were Australian, Indonesian police said yesterday.

The first indication of a motive for the attack on 12 October was given by a man who admits being part of the team that planted three bombs in the resort of Kuta. The Indonesian, identified as Amrozi, was arrested in East Java on Tuesday in the first major breakthrough by investigators.

The Indonesian Defence Minister, Matori Abdul Djalil, said that Amrozi, 40, was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional extremist Islamic organisation linked with Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network. Police said he had met Abu Bakar Bashir, JI's spiritual leader, and Riduan Isamudin, the operations chief.

Intelligence officials in Bali said Amrozi, who owned the Mitsubishi minivan that exploded outside the Sari nightclub, had admitted buying materials for the bombs and helping build them. He had also led police to a house where forensic experts had found residues of the explosives used.

Amrozi has also confessed to involvement in a string of attacks in the region, including an explosion that killed 15 people at the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 2000, a blast at the residence of the Philippines Ambassador in Jakarta the same year and a bomb at the Philippines consulate in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province the same day as the Bali atrocity.

His explanation of the bombers' motive was greeted with disbelief by some observers, who noted that it was common knowledge that Bali was popular chiefly with holidaying Australians.

Made Mangku Pastika, chief investigator with the multinational team, said: "According to the suspect himself, it was for revenge because of what Americans have done to Muslims.

"They said they wanted to kill as many Americans [as possible]. They hate Americans, so they tried to find where the Americans were gathering. That is in Bali. But they were not that happy because Australians were killed in large numbers."

Nearly 200 people died in the explosions outside the Sari Club and another nightspot, Paddy's Bar. Australians accounted for at least half of the fatalities, while only a handful of Americans died.