Indonesia's Terror Clock Ticking

Scolded internationally for ignoring demands that it crack down on terrorism, Indonesia pledged Wednesday to press ahead with tough new anti-terror laws and formed an international investigative team to hunt for the culprits in the Bali nightclub bombing.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Ralph Boyce disclosed that in the month prior to the Bali attack, he and other American envoys had discussed with Indonesian officials possible attacks against U.S. targets.

But Boyce noted that the warnings were not specific to Indonesia. They coincided with a temporary closure of embassies in Jakarta and other regional capitals due to terrorist threats during the Sept. 11 anniversary.

Even as the government in Jakarta vowed to fight terrorism more aggressively, Indonesia's security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhyono claimed that Jemaah Islamiyah — an al Qaeda-linked Islamic extremist group identified by Australia and others as a likely culprit — does not even exist in Indonesia.

And the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah denied the group existed at all, along with denying that al Qaeda was tied to the attack which killed at least 183 people, most of them foreign tourists, and left hundreds more injured.

"There is no link between al Qaeda and the bomb blast," Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir told reporters, calling the accusations "the invention of infidels."

Suspicion in the blast has fallen heavily on Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been accused of plotting to attack the U.S. and other Western embassies in Singapore earlier this year. Malaysia and Singapore have arrested scores of suspected members.

On Wednesday, police in Malaysia arrested four suspected members of the group. They are not believed to have any involvement in the Bali attack, Malaysian national police chief Norian Mai said.

However, he said the four had been in contact with militants in neighboring countries.

Norian said the arrests the latest in a string of detentions over the past year meant that "just a few more'' suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah remained free in Malaysia.

Norian said two of the suspects had undergone military training in Afghanistan, and at least one of them, whom he identified as Nik Abdul Rahman Mustapha, had specific links to al Qaeda.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told reporters the government was working on giving President Megawati Sukarnoputri authority to impose, by decree, a long-stalled anti-terrorism law. There was no indication when a decree would be handed down, but Megawati would be expected to seek approval from parliamentary leaders before doing so.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who is visiting Jakarta, said Indonesia and Australia have agreed to form a joint intelligence team in the wake of the blast and have invited other nations to join, Downer said.

Downer said officials still "don't have any hard evidence as to who is responsible" for the explosion.

Australia, which has posted a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack, has sent more than 40 investigators to Bali to help with the investigation.

They included forensic specialists, victim identification officers and bomb blast experts. The United States, Germany, France and Britain have sent smaller teams.

National Police spokesman Gen. Saleh Saaf said investigators had found what police believe to be the residue of chemicals used in the bomb's detonator. The chemical traces, which included evidence of the explosive TNT, were found spattered onto a motorbike parked near the scene.

Traces of the military explosive C-4 — a puttylike plastic explosive used in the attack two years ago on the USS Cole in Yemen
were also found at the scene.

U.S. officials said Wednesday they believed the number of Americans killed in the weekend bombing would eventually climb to five or six. Authorities have so far confirmed that two U.S. citizens died and four were injured.

The Indonesian government is struggling to shake off its image that it ignored months of warnings about terrorists being active here, particularly Jemaah Islamiyah, which wants to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

Boyce labeled reports in the New York Times that said he warned Megawati of an imminent attack the day before the Bali bombing as "imprecise."

Boyce also said a man who allegedly attempted to hurl a small bomb at the office of the honorary U.S. consul in Denpasar had injured himself when the devise exploded prematurely. But a police spokesman denied that anyone was apprehended after that explosion.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday that he had received no specific intelligence warning that Bali might be targeted prior to the blast.

Senior Indonesian intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a former air force lieutenant colonel with a background in explosives had been questioned by intelligence officers after the bombing, and would be questioned Thursday by police.

But they denied that he was a suspect or had confessed, as the Washington Post reported Wednesday on the Web site of the International Herald Tribune. The officer, who received training in the United States and was discharged from the Air Force a year ago, lives in the area near the blast and had been questioned because he'd rushed to the scene.

Foreign countries have repeatedly urged Indonesia to arrest Bashir, who runs an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. He denies any involvement and the government has not moved against him, fearing a backlash by extremists.

Bashir was scheduled to submit to police questioning Wednesday and Thursday, at his own initiative, to press a libel suit against Time news magazine over an article that implicated him in terrorist activities.

"I have not heard that there is a warrant for my arrest," Bashir told The Associated Press. "It is like a witch hunt. They are cracking down on Muslim fundamentalists."

"I will not answer any questions about the Bali bombing," he said.

On Bali, police continued to interrogate two Indonesian men, Bali Police Chief Budi Setiawan told a news conference. The two men have been detained but it remained unclear whether they are considered suspects.

The men are a security guard and the brother of a man whose identification card was found at the blast scene.

More than 50 people have been questioned in the investigation, Setiawan said.