Indonesian police are searching for the mastermind of a spate of bomb attacks in the capital after arresting 28 people, including two soldiers, in connection with the blasts, the country's new police chief said Tuesday.
"Those arrested are the perpetrators, who assembled and planted the bombs," General Suryo Bimantoro told journalists after officially taking over his post at a ceremony here.
He said 25 people were arrested over the weekend, two others were arrested in the West Java city of Bandung on Sunday and one soldier suspected of involvement in the bombing was under military police detention for questioning over a narcotics case.
"The recent blasts are being looked into, case by case, and and we are still searching for links between one and the other. We want to find the mastermind," he said.
Bimantoro said police were still investigating the motive of the bombings.
One of the two soldiers arrested was a member of the feared special forces, Kopassus and came from the rebellious province of Aceh, he said.
However, he added the Kopassus soldier, identified as Irwan, had been listed as a deserter.
National police spokesman Brigadier General Dadang Darnida said Irwan, and a civilian arrested along with him in Bandung, were being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds suffered during their arrest.
The other soldier is a member of the army strategic reserves command Kostrad, Bimantoro said, identifying him as Ibrahim.
"He is now being detained ...at the military police headquarters for a narcotics case," Bimantoro said.
Garnida said that "after POM (the military police) has finished investigating him (Ibrahim), he will be handed over to the police."
Police on Sunday announced they had arrested 25 people suspected of involvement in the bombings, the most recent of which killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more at the Jakarta stock exchange on September 13.
Jakarta police chief, Inspector General Nurfaizi (eds: one name), said the eldest of the suspects, Iwan Setiawan, had said the US embassy and a large Jakarta department store were the next targets on their list.
The city police chief also said Setiawan had carried out the grenade attack on the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta on August 27, and taken part in the stock exchange bombing.
There were no casualties in the attack on the Malaysian embassy.
Bimantoro has said police are still investigating whether the bombings in the capital were linked to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, the family of ex-president Suharto, or to a series of church bombings in the north Sumatran capital of Medan.
On Tuesday he said "police are working not just according to the conviction but based on investigation, evidence and witnesses," referring to widespread suspicions that Suharto loyalists might be behind the attacks.
President Abdurrahman Wahid had ordered the arrest of Suharto's youngest son, Tommy Suharto, over the bombings, insisting there was plenty of evidence, but police later said there was "insufficient" proof for an arrest.
A spokesman for GAM, which has waged a guerrilla war against Jakarta's rule for more than 20 years for an independent state of Aceh, has also flatly denied any involvement in the blasts – JAKARTA (AFP)
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