Cleric linked to terror group says bombing was work of the Americans

The cleric believed to be the head of an Indonesian Islamist group with links to al-Qa'ida denied yesterday that he was involved with the Bali bombings.

Abu Bakar Bashir and the Jemaah Islamiyah group have emerged as prime suspects, and the preacher declared that he expected to be arrested. Indonesia's authorities, who have been criticised by neighbouring countries and the US for failing to take action against militant Muslims, refused to comment on whether Mr Bashir is being investigated.

The 64-year-old, who has long enjoyed political protection in Jakarta, made no attempt to lie low yesterday. He declared the blasts were the work of the American agents provocateurs in an effort to extend the war on terror to South-east Asia.

"All the allegations against me are groundless. I challenge them to prove anything," he said at his home in Solo, Java, where he runs an Islamic boarding school. "I suspect the bombings were carried out by the US and its allies to justify allegations that Indonesia is a base for terrorists. The US hates me because I struggle in the name of Islam".

Major General Saleh Saaf, of the Indonesian national police, declined to say if Mr Bashir was right in assuming that he was about to be picked up. "We are still investigating. I cannot say anything about anyone," he said.

The Australian government has identified Jemaah Islamiyah as the most likely perpetrator. Singapore, which has been carrying out an extensive investigation into Islamic terrorism, says Mr Bashir is the group's head.

Just last week Alexander Downer, the Australian foreign minister, said that his country was "convinced" that Mr Bashir is involved with Jemaah Islamiyah, but was also aware that there were "political sensitivities in Indonesia about this issue".

One of the sources of that sensitivity is Mr Bashir's links with Hamzah Haz, the Indonesian Vice President, whose Muslim faction is a coalition partner in the government. Mr Haz admitted yesterday that the Bali attack was the work of terrorists, but refused to say who he believed they were.

Mr Bashir spent four years in prison under President Suharto after being convicted of subversion. In 1985 he fled to Malaysia to escape another four-year sentence, only returning after Suharto had been deposed.

Mr Bashir shared his temporary Malaysian exile with Ridwan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, who is being sought by the Indonesian authorities investigating contacts with 13 Muslim militants being held in Singapore.

The Singaporean authorities say that Mr Hambali was the senior al-Qa'ida agent in South-east Asia and helped to look after Zacarias Moussaoui, charged with being one of the 11 September hijackers, during a visit to Malaysia.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, visited the Jemaah Islamiyah leadership in Indonesia two years ago. According to American officials, one of those he met was Mr Bashir, although no evidence has been presented to support this.

Mr Bashir, of Arab descent but born in Jombang, in Indonesia, has been linked to al-Qa'ida in a series of leaked CIA documents. US intelligence is said to have extracted incriminating evidence against him from their interrogation of a senior Indonesian al-Qa'ida suspect, Omar Al-Faruq.

Mr Bashir has always denied being involved in terrorism, but freely admits his desire to see a pan-Islamic international state, spanning several countries, in the region. He has spoken out against the Bali's Hindu traditions.