Bali bombing suspect 'studied under cleric linked to al-Qa'ida'

Indonesian officials said yesterday that the prime suspect in the Bali bombings had studied under a Muslim cleric who is accused of leading an organisation linked to the attack. The suspect is also said to have held four planning meetings in the cleric's home town.

Security forces found an M-16 machine gun, two pistols and ammunition yesterday. They were hidden inside plastic pipes buried in the jungle close to the village where they arrested the suspect, who has been identified only as Amrozi. Two other men from the village were detained.

Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al-Qa'ida, has not been named as a suspect. But yesterday's developments appear to strengthen the assertion by foreign intelligence agencies that Jamaah Islamiyah was behind the Bali blasts, which killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Major-General I Made Mangku Pastika, who is leading the investigation, said Amrozi had attended religious lessons under Mr Bashir in Malaysia, where both men were living in the late 1990s.

"Abu Bakar Bashir has many students and one of his students was Amrozi," General Pastika said. He added that Mr Bashir founded the Malaysian branch of Jamaah Islamiyah, but maintained that the group had no operational cells in Indonesia.

Mr Bashir is being detained over a series of church bombings in 2000. He denies any involvement in terrorism and says Jamaah Islamiyah does not exist. In Jakarta yesterday, a court threw out a suit filed by Mr Bashir claiming his arrest was unlawful and judges ordered that his detention should continue. His lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.

Until his arrest last month, Mr Bashir ran an Islamic boarding school in the central Javanese city of Solo.

The national police chief, General Dai Bachtiar, told parliament: "Before carrying out the bombings in Bali, Amrozi held four meetings in Solo in early September." He did not indicate whether Mr Bashir or his followers attended the alleged meetings.

Amrozi was arrested last week in Tenggulun village in Java after detectives traced the vehicle used in the blast to his house. Amrozi has admitted owning the minivan.

Police have raided dozens of homes in Tenggulun over the past few days.

Officials have said Indonesians who had trained in Afghanistan or Libya were likely to be behind the bombing, citing the planning and expertise that were required. (AP)