Bali Bombers' Housemate Arrested

Investigators have arrested a man who shared a rented house with the Bali suicide bombers in what could be the first major breakthrough in this month's deadly attacks on three crowded restaurants, police said Tuesday.

The arrest on Sunday of a 45-year-old construction worker, identified only as Hasan, was the first since the Oct. 1 attacks that killed 23 people, including the bombers.

The man had been living with the three bombers on the outskirts of the Bali capital Denpasar for about a month, but disappeared days before the blasts, said national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sunarko Artanto.

"We strongly suspect he is linked to the Bali bombing," said Sunarko.

Authorities tracked the man down in Jember, a town in neighboring East Java province about 125 miles west of Denpasar. He was sent back to Bali on Monday, a day after the arrest, for questioning, said Capt. Wahyu Wim Hardjanto, the chief detective in Jember.

Investigators found the severed heads of the three suicide bombers at the sites of the attacks and widely publicized the grisly pictures in hopes of identifying them and anyone who had helped them.

Police received a tip that four men — including the three suicide bombers — had rented a house in a middle class neighborhood just miles from the bomb sites. Residents confirmed that with The Associated Press.

A woman who lived in the same one-story home told the AP she saw two of attackers the morning the restaurants on Jimbaran beach and nearby Kuta — packed with tourists on the busiest night of the week — were bombed.

"They were about to leave and I asked them 'Where are you going?'" said Sulastari, a 48-year-old tailor. "Sanur," one responded, referring to another popular tourist area near Jimbaran beach.

The arrested man's 42-year-old wife, Tuti, told the AP her husband had been living for some time in Bali, but frequently returned home. He last visited on Sept. 28 — three days before the bombings — to pay respects at his parent's graves prior to the holy month of Ramadan, Tuti said.

"Five police came here at about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, and took him to the Jember police station," she said. "They returned with my husband after midnight. He just came to pick up his clothes and say farewell."

Residents expressed shock at his arrest, saying he had no known connection to radical militants. Tuti said her husband worked in Malaysia in early 1990s, but was deported after about 14 months for working illegally.

More than 259 witnesses have been questioned since the attacks, police said. Police detained and questioned several men days after the attack but they were later released on the belief they had no connection to the case.
Sulastari, the woman who shared the home with the bombers, said the four men moved into the house around Sept. 8, and mostly kept to themselves. Two went out every day at 10 a.m., returning in the evening, she said. The others stayed in their room.

"One was always dressed in black," she said. "He always wore the same clothes."

The house was cordoned off Tuesday.

Under Indonesia's anti-terror law, the father of three can be held for up to seven days before charges are filed, Sunarko said.

The al Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for three other terrorist attacks since 2002 in Indonesia, is believed to be involved in the triple suicide bombings.

The group is "part of a group of people who very much want to establish a caliphate – a Muslim empire – in Southeast Asia," says CBS News analyst Jere Van Dyk.

Rumors have swirled for days that police were close to arresting the suspected masterminds and Southeast Asia's most-sought fugitives — Malaysians Noordin Mohamed Top and Azahari bin Husin. But so far the two alleged leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah remain on the run.

At least 10 people at Manega Cafe, one of the bombed restaurants, said a suspicious man was seen examining the area on the morning of the explosions, said Col. Bambang Kuncoko, another police spokesman.

Eleven witnesses at another targeted cafe said they thought one of the alleged bombers once lived in a rented house in Denpasar, he said.