A severed head found at the scene of Jakarta's deadly hotel bombing belonged to a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist network, Indonesian police said.
Indonesia's top detective Erwin Mappaseng told reporters the head has been identified as belonging to Asmar Latinsani, 28, a native of West Sumatra. "He was recruited as a member of Jemaah Islamiyah by Sardono and Muhammad Rais. These two men were members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who were arrested prior to the bombing at the JW Marriott hotel," Mappaseng said.
The al Qaeda-linked JI is also blamed for the Bali bombings last October and a string of other bloody attacks in the region. It seeks to establish a pan-Islamic state in much of Southeast Asia.
Police had sketched a reconstruction of the head which was found on the fifth floor of the hotel. At least 10 people died and 146 were injured in the car bombing Tuesday.
Mappaseng did not say if Asmar is believed to be the driver of the Kijang van which blew up in what authorities suspect was a suicide bombing. He said Asmar's sister confirmed the identity of the head based on a scar and a mole on his neck. The other two JI members were arrested between the Sumatran cities of Medan and Pekanbaru, Mappaseng said.
The breakthrough came as Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri called for an international coalition to fight terrorism. Delivering the ASEAN Lecture here, Megawati said the September 11 attacks on the United States, last October's Bali bombing, and the Jakarta hotel bombing have shown that regional plans of action to tackle terrorism and cross-border crimes like drug smuggling are inadequate.
"It became clear that no single country or group of countries could overcome this threat alone. In Indonesia's view, which is shared by the rest of the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] members, it would take a global coalition involving all nations, all societies, religions and cultures to defeat this threat," she said.
Megawati was speaking a day after judges on the resort island of Bali handed down their first verdict for the Bali bombings.
Local newspapers on Friday welcomed the death sentence handed to Bali bomber Amrozi, 41, the first of 34 suspects to be tried for the October 12 bombings that killed 202 people, mostly Western holidaymakers, on Bali's tourist strip.
The sentence is "an event of major significance," wrote The Jakarta Post in an editorial. "Indeed, both the judgment and the circumstances that led to it can be regarded as setting a new milestone in the country's history of jurisprudence," the paper said.
A smiling Amrozi welcomed his death sentence with a raised right fist and then gave two thumbs up as police led him away.
The Republika daily called his behaviour "rather odd ... as if a hero had just won a war." Koran Tempo said Amrozi's reaction to the sentence is a reminder that terrorism cannot be defeated by relying only on heavier penalties and repressive actions.
"Why? Amrozi's thumbs-up drives us to reply that we will never run out of militants ready to become martyrs," the paper wrote in an editorial. The paper said rising "social frustration" and exploding unemployment contribute to militancy while Megawati's government has failed to promote democratic reform necessary for combating terrorism.
Koran Tempo warned that the battle against terrorism will be a marathon one that must be conducted with the guarantee of civil rights and free speech. "Without all that, we will watch again with shattered hearts a smile and happy flash in the eyes like the one shown by Amrozi yesterday," the paper said. It ran a cartoon on its front page depicting a smiling Amrozi, with sticks of dynamite in place of teeth.
The United States on Thursday welcomed the death sentence. "We commend the government of Indonesia for the professional manner in which it conducted this trial. The court's decision is a clear sign that Indonesia is serious about combatting terrorism," said Tara Rigler, a State Department spokeswoman. "Bringing the perpetrators to justice is an important step in ensuring that what happened in Bali is never repeated," said Rigler.
Indonesians and Australians alike welcomed the sentence. Some 88 Australians died in the blast along with 38 Indonesians. The attack wrecked the economy of the resort island, known as peaceful paradise island of clear blue seas and white sand beaches. Community security guards and police, who watched the trial on video, jumped for joy and raised their fists when the sentence was read. Police threw their batons in the air.
"Justice is done this afternoon. it's good for a bad person," said Colin Marshall, a New Zealander whose friend was killed. "Many young Australians roasted like pigs because of him." Endang Isnani and nine other Bali women left widowed by the bombing watched the trial on video. "We were all delighted here. It's what we had hoped for," she said.