T

he National Police confirmed the identify of the suicide bomber who attacked the police headquarters in Poso, Central Sulawesi, as being Zainul Arifin alias Arif Petak, an accomplice of the infamous terrorist Santoso.

National Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto said on Tuesday that the identification was confirmed after DNA samples taken from the remains of the suicide bomber were compared with Zainul's mother, Zumaroh.

'Zainul Arifin was born on June 26, 1979. He was associated with a pesantren [Islamic boarding school] in Lamongan, East Java. His wife, Fatimah, works as a kindergarten teacher in Lamongan,' Agus said at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

On June 3, Zainul, rode into the Poso Police headquarters on a motorbike and detonated a bomb strapped to his body. He was the sole fatality.

Police were informed about Zainul's terror activities from Umar alias Amir, a member of terrorist cell led by Santoso, who was detained on June 8 in Poso.

'The victim [Zainul] was a pengantin [groom, a term for a suicide bomber] for that location. He had coordinated with A and Jun,' Agus said, without adding any other details about the other two men.

Agus said the police would continue investigating Zainul's activities while affiliated with Santoso's cell.

Prior to the suicide bombing, the National Police had no record of Zainul.

'The suicide bomber was not one of the 20 terrorist suspects named on the police's most wanted list [DPO],' Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Soemarno said.

Terrorism experts had suggested that the suicide bombing was retaliation for raids on suspected terrorists in May across Java and Lampung. During the operation the police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit shot and killed seven suspected terrorists and arrested 16 others.

Among the fatalities was Abu Roban, the West Indonesia Mujahideen leader, who allegedly masterminded a number of robberies around Java to finance terror acts led by Santoso.

Poso has been blighted by violence for years, bloody civil clashes ensued from 1998 that claimed the lives of 1,000 people and displaced another 25,000.

Despite the Malino peace accord signed by Muslim and Christian leaders in December 2001, the threat of attacks and clashes carried out by radical Muslims remains a constant threat.

The National Police, through Densus 88, are at the forefront of curbing terrorism, however, rights groups have criticized raids conducted by the unit for their use of excessive force.