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JAKARTA - In a signal of progress in the case of the Bali bomb blasts that killed at least 184 people, Indonesian police plan to release sketches on Wednesday of possible suspects. "We are going to issue the sketches today both in Bali and Jakarta," Edward Aritonang, deputy national police chief, said. He told Reuters by telephone from Bali that the simultaneous release was scheduled for 2 p.m. (0600 GMT) Bali time.
Police have previously said they had sketches depicting three men who could be Indonesian nationals, and who may include the suspected perpetrator and planner of the October 12 bombings that ripped through a packed nightclub area of Indonesia's prime resort island late on a Saturday night.
Indonesian authorities have named no suspects but have said the bombings bore the hallmarks of previous attacks in the region linked to Jemaah Islamiah, a militant network intelligence agencies say is responsible for planned attacks against Western and other targets throughout Southeast Asia.
Most of the casualties in the Bali blasts were foreigners.
Abu Bakar Bashir, a militant Muslim cleric who is an alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiah, is under police detention at a hospital in Jakarta.Police are waiting for Bashir to fully recover from heart and respiratory problems before questioning him over a series of Christian church bombings and an alleged plot to kill Megawati.Police have not tied Bashir to the Bali blasts, and he denies any wrongdoing as well as any connection with Jemaah Islamiah, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group.
There had been concern that detaining the high-profile Bashir would spark massive demonstrations, but since a clash between police and his supporters on Monday when he was moved to Jakarta from his base in Solo, protests have been relatively small and subdued. While certain Indonesian officials and politicians fret about a Muslim backlash from its overwhelmingly moderate populace if the government cracks down on militant groups, some analysts have said Bali probably changed that.
However, they have also said the government would need to provide enough evidence to convince a public that might otherwise be quick to see any crackdown as bowing to foreign pressure. An example of that view came Tuesday when the leader of Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation said Bashir's arrest was only to appease the United States.
"It's hard for me to understand the reason behind Abu Bakar Bashir's arrest," Syafii Maarif, chairman of Indonesia's 30 million strong moderate Muhammadiyah group, told reporters."Bashir's arrest shows the weak side of Indonesian diplomacy toward the United States...easily dictated to and goes along with United States interests. But let it be."
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