Security Tight after Indonesia Executes 3 Bali Bombers

By IRWAN FIRDAUS / AP WRITER

TENGGULUN, Indonesia — Indonesia boosted security after three Islamic militants were executed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Emotional supporters thronged ambulances carrying their caskets through narrow streets, some calling for revenge

Several embassies, including those of the US and Australia, urged citizens to keep a low profile, saying they could be targeted.

Imam Samudra, 38, and brothers Amrozi Nurhasyim, 47, and Ali Ghufron, 48, were brought before a firing squad near their high-security prison on Nusakambangan island in the middle of the night Sunday, said Jasman Panjaitan, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

They refused blindfolds and died instantly, he said.

The October 12, 2002 attacks—allegedly funded by al-Qaida and carried out by members of the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah—were the first of several suicide bombings that thrust the world's most populous Muslim nation onto the front lines in the war on terror.

Many of those killed were Western tourists, who packed into two nightclubs on the popular resort island on the busiest night of the week.

The three militants confessed to helping plan and carry out the attacks, saying they were meant to punish the US and its Western allies for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but never expressed remorse. Nurhasyim, ever gloating, came to be known as the "smiling bomber."

Most people in the nation of 235 million are moderate Muslims who have little sympathy for the bombers, but the men have strong support among an increasingly vocal radical fringe.

Thousands of supporters and onlookers lined streets in their home towns of Tenggulun and Serang, located in east and west Java. Some jostled for a glimpse of their caskets or headed to the cemetery with family members for the burials.

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir led the prayers in Tenggulun, home of Nurhasyim and Ghufron, one of their final requests. Former militants allege Bashir headed Jemaah Islamiyah in the early 2000s. But while he was found guilty of giving his blessing to the Bali attacks, his conviction was overturned after he spent more than three years in jail.

Dozens of radicals scuffled briefly with police in the east Java town, but there were no serious disturbances.

The government was not taking any chances, however, stepping up security at shopping malls, churches, and other sensitive locations, said Abubakar Nataprawira, spokesman of the national police.

The three executed men were among more than 30 people convicted in connection with the twin nightclub blasts, the bloodiest of four suicide bombings blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah-linked militants.