Jakarta (AsiaNews) Jakarta police spokesman Tjiptono said the terror alert in Indonesia has gone up one notch after reporting that one of Southeast Asia's most wanted Islamic militants might be hiding on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, where he might be preparing another attack following the bombing that killed 20 people in central Sulawesi on May 28.
"We think Azahari and his people are just outside Jakarta. We can't tell what they are planning to do, but we're on guard [and] are increasing security as a precaution," Tjiptono said.
Indonesian police consider the Malaysian-born Azahari to be Jemaah Islamiah's main bomb makerthe group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, operates throughout South-East Asia.
For the police, he is one of the masterminds of a series of attacks in the country such as Bali (2002, 202 dead), Jakarta's Marriott hotel (2003, 12 dead) and the Australian Embassy (2004, 10 dead).
The United States Embassy on Friday warned Americans of a threat to bomb the lobbies of hotels frequented by Westerners in Jakarta. Security in the capital's major hotels but also in its main shopping malls and night clubs was made tighter.
After several alarms and alerts warning of a new wave of terror attacks, two bombs exploded in the predominantly Christian town of Tentena (Central Sulawesi) killing 20 people making it the worst attack after that of Bali.
Senior Commander Tatang Somantri, head of the police team investigating the Tentena case, said that the search for the two main suspects was expanding into the Morowali regency.
He said that as of Saturday, the police had identified 18 suspects in connection with the bombingten of them are being questioned in Poso regency, whilst the rest are being questioned at Central Sulawesi Police headquarters.
Hasman, the director of a penitentiary in Poso regency, is among the suspects. It is thought that his office was used to assemble the bombs used in the attack.
Indonesia has a population of about 220 million, 85 per cent Muslim. However, many areas such as the Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands are evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
Religious leaders and human rights activities have been warning against the danger of Islamic extremists fomenting troubles and raising tensions between the two communities in order to create chaos in the area so that they can operate less conspicuously.
