Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday denied reports that they were investigating the involvement of former army generals in the Christmas Eve bombings, linking the fatal attacks that killed 19 people instead to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The police also told a press briefing yesterday that they had so far arrested six more men linked to the explosions and the bombing attempts at church premises in nine cities on December 24, bringing the total number of suspects in police custody to eight.

The latest revelation came amid speculations that retired army officers were behind the explosions.

In an interview with Newsweek Magazine, President Abdurrahman Wahid said former special forces commander Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto had complained that he and former army chief General Hartono were under police investigation for the bomb attacks. The President commented that the police would have to prove the speculations.

But police spokesman Saleh Saaf said yesterday: "We have never mentioned anything about the two generals' involvement in the bombings." Furthermore, he said none of the eight suspects currently in police custody came from a military background.

The chief detective from the North Sumatra police force, Mr Iskandar Hasan, said the three men recently arrested in Medan, North Sumatra, were linked to GAM.

One of them, a car mechanic named Eddy, who is the alleged maker of 15 bombs found in the province, reportedly travelled regularly to Aceh and has previously been on the police search list for involvement in violence in Aceh, he added.

Two men arrested with him had allegedly delivered the bombs hidden inside cookie tins. Only one of the 15 bombs exploded on the night before Christmas, as the police managed to defuse the remaining 14.

Two other suspects, Aceng and Iqbal, were apprehended at 4.30 am in Brebes, Central Java, in a welding shop that was supposedly used to build the bombs. With the arrest of these two suspects, a total of four people have been arrested for alleged links to the Bandung explosion. Another one was still at large, said West Java Police Chief Detective Sardjono.

Four people died in the reportedly accidental explosion in the welding shop in Bandung. In Jakarta, a man was arrested after the police found some bomb-making materials at his home. Mr Saleh said police have found links between the Medan and Bandung suspects.

He said Eddy was found after the police traced his number through the phone of one of the suspects who died in the Bandung explosion. "At his home, we found materials to make explosives, and Eddy admitted that he had bought those items from stores in Medan to construct bombs," he said.

"He admitted that he had been paid 159 million rupiah to make those bombs by a person with the initials P.O.," Mr Saleh added. Eddy was paid the equivalent of S$28,620. P.O. and three other unidentified suspects of Medan bombings are still at large, Mr Saleh said.

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar said yesterday Mr Abdurrahman had never "alleged the two once-powerful generals of masterminding the bombings". "He was only commenting on the reports of what has long been public speculations," he explained.