Jakarta police question militant

By Tim Johnston
BBC correspondent in Jakarta

Abu Jibril has called for the overthrow of secular government

Indonesian police are questioning a known Islamic militant after a house he was renting near the capital, Jakarta, was damaged by a small blast.

Police said Abu Jibril was praying at his local mosque at the time of the explosion, which hit the courtyard of a house in Pamulang, south of Jakarta.

The explosion left no casualties and little damage.

But in the wake of a number of bomb attacks by Islamic militants in the past, police are investigating closely.

Abu Jibril, also known as Fihiruddin Moqthe bin Abdul Rahman, was released from prison last October after serving a five-and-a-half month sentence on immigration and forgery charges.

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Abu Jibril, 47, trained in Afghanistan and has a long history of involvement in militant Islamic politics.

He is a confidant of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the cleric who police say was the leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the group widely believed to have been behind the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.

The explosion comes against a background of increased vigilance, after police and foreign embassies warned that extremists were planning another attack.

Last week the United States embassy said it had received credible intelligence that there was to be an attack on the lobby of an international hotel in Jakarta in June and warned its citizens to stay away from all areas where foreigners are known to congregate.

Indonesia has had substantial success in arresting those responsible for past attacks.

But some of the key players remain at large and analysts warn that they have both the will and the resources to launch another attack.