Indonesian reports say hotel suicide bomber identified

AFP, Jakarta

Indonesian media said Monday that investigators have identified one of the Jakarta hotel suicide bombers and were taking DNA samples from his family, in reports police refused to confirm.
Local media said the man was a former student at an Islamic boarding school linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, which is being blamed for the twin blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels Friday.
Two bombers killed seven people including three Australians, a New Zealander and an Indonesian in almost simultaneous blasts at the luxury hotels. More than 50 people were injured.
Websites and newspapers identified the bomber seen in grainy security camera footage at the Marriott as Nur Hasbi, alias Nurdin Aziz or Nur Sahid, a follower of Malaysian-born JI faction leader Noordin Mohammad Top. Police have said they suspect the bombings were the first by Jemaah Islamiyah or its offshoots since a 2005 blast at a restaurant in Bali, marking the return of terror to the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
State news agency Antara said investigators had gone to Hasbi's family home to collect DNA samples, but police would not confirm the report.
"About the news being circulated about the initial 'N' being shown on TV and commentaries, the police have not said that 'N' is the perpetrator. We are still investigating," deputy police spokesman Sulistyo Ishak told reporters.
Senior anti-terrorist officials have said the attacks look like the work of Noordin, who leads a violent splinter faction of JI that advocates the mass killing of Westerners as a legitimate means of "holy war".
One of Asia's most wanted men, Noordin is accused of masterminding bombings at the Jakarta Marriott in 2003, the Australian embassy in 2004 and Bali restaurants in 2005, which killed more than 40 people.
Police said they were trying to rebuild the face on a severed head believed to belong to one of the bombers.
Ishak said the Australian Federal Police had a liaison officer who was helping with the grisly forensic work that could provide a breakthrough in the investigation.
The blasts came just over a week after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a liberal ex-general, was re-elected in a landslide in a vote widely applauded a peaceful and democratic.
Jemaah Islamiyah draws inspiration from Al-Qaeda and has had extensive links with global jihadists as it seeks to create an Islamic caliphate spanning much of Southeast Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines.