‘Aide’ in Jakarta blast case admits link to key suspect

Indonesian police have made their first arrest in the car bombing outside the Australian Embassy last week, detaining a man they said on Fri...

Indonesian police have made their first arrest in the car bombing outside the Australian Embassy last week, detaining a man they said on Friday had helped their top suspect prepare the attack.

News of the breakthrough came as the government said it was drafting tougher anti-terrorism laws to give police more powers and broaden the category of activities that fall under the regulations.

Police Chief General Da’I Bachtiar said the man knew when explosives, used in the bombing, were moved and where they were taken from. The man was arrested in West Java province, outside Jakarta, although Bachtiar did not say when. Based on interrogation of the man, whom he did not identify, Bachtiar said there may be explosives left to make two or three more bombs.

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Police have said their key suspect in the attack that killed nine people and wounded 182 was Azahari Husin, a Malaysian bomb maker and senior member of Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group seen as the regional arm of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda.

‘‘There is information which connects him to the bombing,’’ Bachtiar said. ‘‘He has admitted that before the incident he was with Azahari, who carried a package…He knows that what was in it were explosives.’’ In the past 48 hours, police detained seven others, although they insisted none was connected to the embassy bombing. —(Reuters)