Cleric blames US for Bali bombings

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:21:00 GMT


Bali bombings in 2002

An Indonesian cleric has said that the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed more than 200 people was the work of the US-Israeli spy agencies.

Abu Bakar Bashir told AFP Thursday the US intelligence agency had fired a nuclear missile at the Bali tourist strip from a ship off the coast.

"It has been mentioned as being a micro-nuclear bomb, not a regular bomb... The bomb was made by the CIA, it could be no one else," Bashir said in his house at the Al-Muhmin Islamic boarding school on Indonesia's Java island.

His comments come amid speculation the government is preparing to execute the three bombers by firing squad next week, in line with their 2003 convictions.

He noted the attack was a conspiracy between "America, Australia and the Jews" and the three convicted bombers -- Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron -- had been framed.

The police and the prosecutors aren't brave enough to prove it, he concluded.

The coordinated October 12, 2002 bomb attacks ripped through packed nightspots on the holiday island's main tourist strip and killed 202 people, mostly foreign visitors including 88 Australians.

JR/RA

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