Homeland Security

DATE=01/29/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BALI BOMBING BASHIR (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-298943

BYLINE=PATRICA NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Indonesian police may be tightening the noose on an alleged

militant leader suspected of involvement in last October's deadly bomb

attack on the island of Bali. Authorities say they will investigate the

spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Bashir. Patricia Nunan

reports from Jakarta.

TEXT: Police spokesman Lt. Colonel Zainuri Lubis says Mr. Bashir will

be investigated and that he meets several criteria as a potential

suspect. He also says several of the 30 suspects now in police custody

have charged that Mr. Bashir knew about the bombing plot.

More than 190 people - mostly foreign tourists -- died when a pair of

bombs was detonated on a crowded tourist street in Bali last October.

Abu Bakar Bashir is the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah -

or J-I - a militant group that wants to create an Islamic state across

Southeast Asia.

On Tuesday, Indonesia's National Police chief General Da'I Bachtiar said

that J-I was definitely behind the bombing, although the police have

stopped short of filing formal charges. Mr. Bashir denies all

involvement with the bombing and with J-I.

Indonesia police for the first time on Tuesday directly linked Mr.

Bashir to the bomb plot. In the past, police and most government

officials have been more circumspect about both Mr. Bashir and the

question of whether J-I operates on Indonesian soil.

Mr. Bashir is currently in detention in the Indonesian capital Jakarta

facing charges he was involved in another terrorist plot - a series of

bombings across Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000. Prosecutors say they

want him to face charges of treason for still another plot - this time

to assassinate Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/MPN/MH