Indonesia: 3 school board members wanted for terrorism after bomb blast

[News_Editor]

Indonesia: 3 school board members wanted for terrorism after bomb blast

2011-07-26 11:41:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

MATARAM, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Three board members from the Umar Bin Khatab (UBK) Islamic boarding school, where a bomb blast over two weeks ago killed one person, are still wanted for their involvement in terrorist attacks, officials said Monday.

West Nusa Tenggara police spokesman Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sukarman Husein told Antara news agency that Indonesia's anti-terror unit Densus 88 are still searching for the three individuals who have already been identified.

The blast occurred on Monday July 7 at around 3:30 p.m. local time in the boarding school, which is located in Sanolo, Bolo, Bima, in the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). Police arrested 11 people possibly linked to the explosion at that time.

Last Friday, UBK principal Abrory M. Ali was officially arrested and named as a terror suspect. As a result, he could be sentenced to a minimum prison term of three years and a maximum of 15 years for spreading hatred that could entice people to commit acts of terrorism.

Local authorities then named three members of UBK's seven board members as suspects - Rahmat Ibnu Umar, 36, from Talabiu, Woha subdistrict, Bima; Rahmat Hidayat, 22, from O'o village, Dompu; and Mustakim Abdullah, 17, also from O'o village - while the remaining four were charged with general offenses such as obstructing police work.

However, police said some of the school leaders had fled to hilly regions in the district, as authorities continue to search and investigate their location and involvement in the incident.

Following the explosion, police were unable to enter the school grounds until two days after the incident, as students surrounded the school and were armed with sharp weapons such as machetes and arrows. Other security personnel said they were possibly carrying firearms.

According to police reports, 36 students and 15 former students occupied the school, of which some are current board members. After finally entering the school grounds, police discovered molotov cocktails, 30 arrows, two computer units and a printer, a rifle, nine machetes, an axe, a cellphone, a box of Korans and a uniform of Jamaah Anshorut Tauchief (JAT), dozens of compact discs on jihad and bomb assembling materials such as wires, a welder and a lighter.

On June 30, 16-year-old UBK student Sa'ban Umar Abdurahman stabbed a local police officer to death. He claimed to be a member of extremist group JAT, which was founded by convicted cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and claims to be trying to implement Shariah law in Indonesia.

JAT spokesman Son Hadi, meanwhile, has acknowledged that the Islamic boarding school had links with the organization.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has also admitted that since 2004, when the boarding school was founded, the institution had been problematic. Furthermore, he noted that if staff or students of the school were found to have links to any radical group, the school should be shut down, as students would need renewed guidance.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-07-26