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Suspected suicide bomber a graduate of Ba'asyir's Ngruki school

One of the suicide bombers who attacked the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last Friday has been linked to an Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, led by convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Ba'asyir

Blontank Poer (The Jakarta Post)
Surakarta
Wed, July 22, 2009

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Suspected suicide bomber a graduate of Ba'asyir's Ngruki school

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ne of the suicide bombers who attacked the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last Friday has been linked to an Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, led by convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

The suicide bomber in question was identified as Nur Said, alias Nur Hasbi, alias Nur Hasdi.

The Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki admitted Tuesday that Nur was one of its graduates.

The school had previously denied Nur Said had ever studied there.

"I couldn't remember him at first because he wasn't one of the brightest students here," school director Wahyuddin said in Ngruki, Boyolali, 40 kilometers from Surakarta.

Wahyuddin said Nur had enrolled at the school in 1988, in junior high.

"Nur then continued his education at the Kuliyyatul Mu'alimin Al-Islamiyah *KMI* level, similar to senior high," he said.

"That level focuses on producing future Islamic school teachers. Nur left after he finished the KMI.

"We lost contact with him after his graduation."

Wahyuddin denied knowing another graduate, Asmar Latin Sani.

Asmar was the bomber who blew himself up in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004.

Wahyuddin himself is a son-in law of the late radical Muslim cleric Abdullah Sungkar, who co-founded the Al-Mukmin boarding school with Ba'asyir. The latter served time in prison for being the spiritual leader of the 2002 Bali bombings.

Abdullah and Ba'asyir later fell out over differing opinions on jihad, a holy war in Islam.

A source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Jakarta Post that Nur had a high proficiency in English and electronics.

"Nur taught English at the Darusy-Syahadah boarding school in Simo Boyolali, Central Java. He also taught electronics," the source said.

He added there had been a major exodus of students from Al-Mukmin to Darusy-Syahadah in 1995.

Darusy-Syahadah was established in the early 1990s and is now led by Mustaqim, an Al-Mukmin graduate.

Five Darusy-Syahadah graduates were arrested in Pakistan several years ago for their alleged involvement in acts of terrorism there.

None of the Al-Mukmin teachers or directors, including Wahyuddin, was willing explain the exodus of the students, believed to be supporters of Abdullah Sungkar.

"It was an event too painful to remember; if you pinch one part of your body, the other parts feel the pain," Wahyuddin said.

In Jakarta, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said investigators had taken DNA samples from the suspected parents of Nur Said.

The test results will be out within the next two or three days, he added.

Another suicide bomber, identified as Ibrahim, had worked as a florist at the Ritz-Carlton, police said.

The bombers checked in at the Marriott as paying guests on Wednesday and assembled the bombs in room 1808 on the 18th floor, according to the police. A third bomb was found and defused in a laptop bag in the same room.

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