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notorious Muslim cleric who was once jailed for the Bali terror attacks in 2002, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, warned the nation on Friday to face more suicide bombings unless Indonesia enforced Islamic sharia law.

To reduce or combat bomb attacks in Indonesia, the majority Muslim country should change its administration system by implementing sharia, Ba'asyir said.

"Since the government has not adopted a sharia system, such disasters *suicide bombings* will continue," Ba'asyir told a religious gathering during the Muslim Fair 2009 at Utari Mandala Wanitatama hall in Yogyakarta.

The intensified efforts of police including raids against terrorists would not stop them, he said. "It will just reduce the frequency of attacks".

The statement came a day after Ba'asyir led a hero's funeral for two terror suspects, Air Setyawan and Eko Joko Sarjono, in Sragen, Central Java.

The two, whom Ba'asyir labelled "martyrs" in Islam, were shot dead during a counterterror raid last Saturday, in Bekasi, West Java.

Ba'asyir said he did not reject using bombs for Muslims to wage jihad. "I don't absolutely blame bombers in Indonesia because their goal is good, namely to defend Islam," he said.

The extremist cleric, who founded the Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Sukoharjo, Central Java, said that jihad using bomb attacks was endorsed by a group of jihadists.

However, in an Indonesian context, waging jihad with bombs was "not proper", he said, adding that jihadists should instead promote dakwah, or Islamic mission, in the country.

"If an attack comes in the form of an argument, we should respond to it with argument. But if attacked with weapons, we should respond with physical jihad, and be ready to die for it," Ba'asyir said.

He admitted having taught his students about jihad as it is the most noble practice recognized in Islam.

Despite his endorsement of using bombs in jihad, Ba'asyir denied involvement in terrorism in Indonesia, or being a spiritual leader for suicide bombers.

However, he admitted to have met several terrorists who launched the 2002 Bali bombings, including Ali Gufron alias Mukhlas, when teaching at the Lukmanul Hakim boarding school in Johor, Malaysia.

Mukhlas was executed by a police firing squad last year, along with two other bombers, Imam Samudra and Amrozi bin Nurhasyim.

Ba'asyir also said he had met Noordin M. Top, the Indonesia's most-wanted terror suspect, widely blamed for a series of bomb attacks in the country.

In a related development, Central Java police asked residents to report to them should they encounter suspicious strangers.

The move was to suppress movements of terrorists in the province, Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said after a meeting with Central Java Governor Bibit Waluyo on Friday in Semarang.

"Residents can independently arrest those on the police list of wanted people if they dare to," Alex said.

Central Java has been considered a safe haven for terrorists to build hideouts and escape police.