Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The nearly two dozen active bombs that were seized during a recent raids at a suspected terrorist safe house in Indonesia were more powerful than those found or used in previous deadly attacks, national police chief General Sutanto said Friday.
The bombs, which were found in South Sumatra province had the potential to cause deadlier attacks than previously experienced in the country, including the Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people, he said.
"The bombs were not only filled with ball bearings but also bullets. So when the bombs explode they will have a double impact and will easily kill people," Sutanto, was quoted by DPA as telling reporters.
"They (terrorists) have changed their technique."
Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name, said during the interrogation of suspects, it came to light that the explosives were distributed from central Java to South Sumatra.
The state-run Antara news agency quoted Sutanto as giving details of an alleged plan for the seized bombs to be detonated at several locations around the country, including outside the capital, Jakarta.
Ten terrorist suspects, including a Singaporean, were arrested during raids by anti-terror police forces between Saturday and Wednesday. Twenty active bombs, 16 of which were ready to be detonated, and tens of kilograms of explosive materials.
Police believe the Singaporean and an Afghanistan-trained bomb-maker, identified only as MH, as the associate of Singaporean terror fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari, who escaped from the city-state's prison early this year.
Sutanto said he had been a student of Azahari Husin, a Malaysian master bomb-maker who was killed in a shootout with anti-terror police at his hideout in East Java province in late 2005.
The suspects have also been linked to leading regional al-Qaeda linked terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), including Noordin M Top - a Malaysian national considered a key figure behind a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia over the past few years.
Dozens of terrorist suspects and alleged JI members have been arrested at several locations in central Java in previous operations where explosive materials were seized.
JI has been blamed for the October 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali, the 2003 and 2004 attacks on the JW Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, and the 2005 triple suicide bombings on restaurants in Bali.
The first Bali attack killed at least 202 people, most of them Western tourists. (*)
The bombs, which were found in South Sumatra province had the potential to cause deadlier attacks than previously experienced in the country, including the Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people, he said.
"The bombs were not only filled with ball bearings but also bullets. So when the bombs explode they will have a double impact and will easily kill people," Sutanto, was quoted by DPA as telling reporters.
"They (terrorists) have changed their technique."
Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name, said during the interrogation of suspects, it came to light that the explosives were distributed from central Java to South Sumatra.
The state-run Antara news agency quoted Sutanto as giving details of an alleged plan for the seized bombs to be detonated at several locations around the country, including outside the capital, Jakarta.
Ten terrorist suspects, including a Singaporean, were arrested during raids by anti-terror police forces between Saturday and Wednesday. Twenty active bombs, 16 of which were ready to be detonated, and tens of kilograms of explosive materials.
Police believe the Singaporean and an Afghanistan-trained bomb-maker, identified only as MH, as the associate of Singaporean terror fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari, who escaped from the city-state's prison early this year.
Sutanto said he had been a student of Azahari Husin, a Malaysian master bomb-maker who was killed in a shootout with anti-terror police at his hideout in East Java province in late 2005.
The suspects have also been linked to leading regional al-Qaeda linked terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), including Noordin M Top - a Malaysian national considered a key figure behind a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia over the past few years.
Dozens of terrorist suspects and alleged JI members have been arrested at several locations in central Java in previous operations where explosive materials were seized.
JI has been blamed for the October 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali, the 2003 and 2004 attacks on the JW Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, and the 2005 triple suicide bombings on restaurants in Bali.
The first Bali attack killed at least 202 people, most of them Western tourists. (*)
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