Bali police have sketches of three bomb suspects

Police in Bali are seeking three Indonesian men in connection with the nightclub blasts 12 days ago and have sketches of the trio.

The head of the investigation, Made Mangku Pastika, said yesterday that the men were possible suspects. He declined to state their religion or give further details, saying that to do so could "mess up the investigation". The sketches, based on witness statements, will only be released to the public at a later stage.

As police searched for the terrorist cell responsible for the explosions that killed more than 180 people on 12 October, Jakarta was abuzz with conspiracy theories. Nabila, a 27-year-old shop assistant, said she knew exactly who planted the bombs. "It was the CIA," she declared.

Nabila, a striking woman in a turquoise headscarf and pink lipstick, supplied a certain logic to back up her claim. The US warned its citizens in Indonesia of an impending attack. Very few Americans died in the blasts. America wanted to prove that Indonesia was a haven for terrorists. It needed to convince sceptical allies to join its war on Iraq.

The belief that the US organised the explosions is not confined to a few harmless cranks. It is being voiced at every level of Indonesian society, from the barely literate men who sweep Jakarta's polluted streets to middle-class businessmen and educated élites. It has been aired in serious newspapers and is being repeated, in private, at the highest levels of government.

Similar conspiracy theories circulated in America after 11 September, the most popular being the notion that no Jews died in the World Trade Centre because, forewarned, they were all on holiday. Indonesians enthusiastically embraced that idea, and now, with a disaster at home, they are rapidly accumulating myths of their own. It is not only the US that is the object of suspicion. Some people are blaming the Indonesian army, which lost much of its power after the restoration of civilian government and might wish to destablise the fledgling democracy.

Most theorists, though, favour the idea of foreign agents provocateurs. "It must be outside agents, whether al-Qa'ida or Mossad or the US," said Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst.

On the campus of Jakarta's Atma Jaya University, students pointed the finger at the US. "America is the only beneficiary of the bombs," said Herun Abineno, 18. "If they didn't actually do it, they were the brains behind it."

Rusly Sumantri, 19, said: "The US kept saying Indonesia was a centre for terrorists. So finally they had to prove it."

The daily newspaper Kompas has argued the case for US involvement, while Bisnis Indonesia said in an editorial: "It is not impossible that the terror package came from other countries which wish to see the destruction of Indonesia."

According to one conspiracy theory, Bali was to be a beachhead through which US forces would establish a presence in Indonesia.

Among those convinced of a US role in the bombing are members of Indonesia's parliamentary foreign affairs committee and the Vice-President, Hamzah Haz.

The Defence Minister, Matori Abdul Djalil, said last week that he was sure the Bali attacks were linked to al-Qa'ida. When journalists asked him later what evidence he had, he replied: "Well, some people are saying it was the Americans, so why can't I say it was al-Qa'ida?"

* Police in the Philippines paraded five men before the press yesterday, saying they were members of the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, suspected of involvement in at least three bombings in the southern city of Zamboanga.