INDONESIA: Indonesian investigators searching for links between the Bali bomb blasts and the al-Qaeda network were interrogating two Indonesians yesterday.
They had also found traces of C4 plastic explosives at the site of the weekend explosion that killed more than 180 people in a strip of bars packed with young foreigners on Kuta Beach, the national police chief said.
Indonesia has for the first time linked Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network to the explosions, and President George W. Bush said he also saw the handiwork of the group held responsible for the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
In Bali, the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, and the Justice Minister, Mr Chris Ellison, walked past the mangled wreckage of the Sari Club, which took the brunt of the explosion and fireball that followed.
Mr Downer carried a large bouquet of flowers and Mr Ellison a traditional Balinese wreath. Australians account for the largest single group of victims.
"We are interrogating two people intensively," the police chief, Mr Da'i Bachtiar, told reporters, adding that both were Indonesians. "One said he was present when the incident occurred."
He said the other person was related to someone whose identification card had been found at the blast site but who had not been located. He gave no further details.
Mr Bachtiar also said investigators in Bali had questioned a witness at Paddy's Bar, situated across the road from the Sari, who saw a man placing a white plastic bag at the scene.
"When he walked up to the man, he ran away and afterwards the place exploded," the police chief said.
Police and witnesses have described a small blast at Paddy's followed by a much larger explosion, possibly a car-bomb, outside Sari's. Mr Bachtiar said the larger blast appeared to have been caused by plastic explosives.
Conflicting information emerged about a group of 10 Pakistanis. Some police reports said the group, apparently licensed to conduct religious activities on Bali, had been held for questioning after the blasts. Others said they had been questioned before the explosions and were now being more closely monitored. It was not even clear whether the 10 were still on Bali.
None of the reports indicated any evidence that the group was connected to the atrocity.
Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Australian federal police are helping search for clues.
Officers from Britain's Scotland Yard are expected to join them along with others from Japan and Germany.
Meanwhile, the leader of another group, Laskar Jihad, the most prominent face of militant Islam in Indonesia, said that his organisation had disbanded.
Jafar Umar Thalib denied the move was linked to the Bali bombings. He said the group made the decision to close and bring home its fighters from the Moluccas islands on October 7th, days before the blast.