Investigator says Americans were target of Bali bombings

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The Bali bombers "hate Americans" and their real targets were U.S. citizens in the nightclub attacks that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island, a top investigator said Friday, citing the confession of a key suspect.

The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin, also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

The confession was the first major breakthrough in the case, and officials said Friday that Amrozi had admitted to taking part in a string of terror attacks in Indonesia.

Referring to the Oct. 12 bombings in Bali, Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said the goal was "to kill as many Americans" as possible.

"They hate Americans. They tried to find where the Americans are gathering. That is in Bali. But they were not that happy because Australians were killed in big numbers," Pastika said. The vast majority of the dead were Australians.

Police swept through Amrozi's home village in East Java province on Friday, arresting the principal of an Islamic school and the owner of a shop where bomb chemicals were allegedly bought.

Blame for the attack is increasingly turning to Jemaah Islamiyah -- the al-Qaida linked terror group said to be seeking a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

Terrorists met in Thailand

Two security experts -- citing militant and intelligence sources -- said Friday that Jemaah Islamiyah leaders met in southern Thailand earlier this year and agreed to target tourist venues like the Bali nightclubs.

Pastika didn't say who Amrozi was working for, but said his younger brother, identified only as Mukhlas, was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah.

The investigator said Amrozi, who was arrested Tuesday in his home village of Tenggulun, led authorities to a residence in Denpasar, Bali's capital, where a forensic unit found residue of the explosives used in the bombings.

Police said Amrozi owned the L300 Mitsubishi minivan laden with at least 110 pounds of explosives that blew up outside a packed nightclub on Bali. Though Amrozi's detention has catapulted the investigation forward, his ranking inside any alleged terror group remains unclear.

Pastika said Amrozi confessed after being confronted with evidence that included receipts from a chemical company for materials used in making the Bali bomb.

Amrozi told police he bought a ton of ammonium chlorate, sulfur and aluminum, buying between 220 and 440 pounds at a time to avoid raising suspicion. Only 220 pounds of explosives were used in the Bali bombings, Pastika said, and it is unclear where the rest is.