Severely injured man involved in bomb making: Police

The National Police alleged on Wednesday that the man severely injured in an explosion in Depok last week was a bomb maker.

According to National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, the critically ill man being treated at the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, matched the criteria of the bomb assembler mentioned by terror suspect Muhammad Thoriq.

“We suspect that the injured man and Thoriq were in the learning process [of bomb-making], and the former was more advanced than Thoriq,” Boy said.

Boy said that the man was provisionally identified as Wahyu Ristanto, based on documents and an ID card found at the crime scene in Depok.

The police had previously assumed that the suspect was the man who had rented the house, Yusuf Rizaldi also known as Abu Toto.

However, DNA samples that were collected from Yusuf’s family members did not match.

“We found two ID cards; one belonged to Y[usuf] and another one belonged to W[ahyu] with an address in Central Java. We have collected DNA samples from family members and will cross reference the DNA today,” Boy said.

According to Boy, based on statements by family members, Wahyu left home five or six months ago, which means that the intended bomb attack may have been up to six months in preparation.

Given the address on the ID card, Boy said that the suspected terrorist group might have connections with last month’s terror attacks against police in Central Java.

“He might be connected to Farhan, but we cannot jump to conclusions that the two series of events are linked,” Boy said, referring to one of the suspects who were killed in the recent police raids in Surakarta. (nad/iwa)