National

Fugitive Noor Din Mohamad Top Gave Order for Bombings
Wednesday, 04 August, 2004 | 21:38 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Ismail, a defendant in the JW Marriott Hotel bombing case, has said that fugitive Noor Din Mohamad Top gave the order for the bombings of several major sites.

“Noor Din ordered me and Azahari (another bombing fugitive, ed.) to survey four locations,” said Ismail during the trial held at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (04/08).

Dr Azahari was the person who decided that the JW Marriott Hotel should be bombed.

“According to Azahari, the USA possess most of JW Marriott Hotel assets,” Ismail stated.

He added that Azahari, Noor Din, Asmar Latin Sani, Tohir and he himself were actively involved in the planning of the JW Marriott Hotel bombing

Noor Din and Azahari are still on the run.

Asmar Latin blew himself up together with the bombs that he was bringing in the car during the Marriott bombing incident.

Tohir was arrested and became a defendant in the same case but was tried separately.

“The five of us often held meetings before the Marriott bombing incident,” said Ismail.

Noor Din, Ismail said, was the chairman of the team, who gave orders and was responsible for the financing of the bombing and providing of the explosive materials.

Azahari was the advisor who also assembled the bombs, whilst Tohir was responsible for logistics equipment.

“I myself was assigned to be Azahari’s assistant,” said Ismail.

When the Marriott bombing took place, Ismail said that he was with Azahari monitoring the incident around 250 meters from the location.

South Jakarta District Court head of judges I Wayan Rena asked about Ismail’s feelings during the bombing.

“I was glad that we could achieve our goal. But I regretted that only one foreigner was killed in this incident,” said Ismail. (Erma Yulihastin-Tempo News Room)