Bali bombers 'do not want pardon'

Police are still on the hunt for those involved in the latest attacks

Three Indonesians sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali bombings will not seek presidential pardons, prosecutors have said.

Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra reportedly told prosecutors they were "ready to be executed anytime soon".

Indonesia is continuing to take measures to combat militancy, after a second Bali attack earlier this month.

On Thursday, the government announced plans to step up the surveillance of Islamic boarding schools.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said only one or two schools in the country were actually expounding extremism, but these had to be investigated and controlled.

Mr Kalla said that almost all those who were suspected of being behind recent terrorist attacks in Indonesia were thought to have studied in such schools.

Protesters' anger

Until Thursday, the three men sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali attacks - which killed more than 200 people - had refused to say whether they planned to seek a presidential pardon.

But after angry protesters surrounded Bali's jail last week to demand their death sentences be quickly carried out, officials are said to have asked for a definite decision.

Protesters have been demanding the bombers' immediate execution

Under Indonesian law, a person cannot be executed until all legal avenues have been exhausted.

Prosecutors said the three men turned down the chance to ask for a pardon.

"They all refused to seek grace - they said that grace should only be sought from Allah, and not from an earthly institution," said Djoko Susilo, the head of the district prosecutor's office in Cilacap, near where the men are being held.

Mr Susilo said the men's families would now be asked whether they planned to seek pardons on their behalves.

Public calls for a rapid execution of the three convicted bombes have mounted since the second attack on Bali, on 1 October - in which three suicide bombers killed 20 people.

Police are continuing the hunt for those behind these latest bombings.

According to the AFP news agency, two more people were arrested on Tuesday in North Sulawesi, under the country's anti-terrorism laws, but it is not clear if they are believed to be directly involved in the attacks.

So far five people have been detained since the attacks - one of whom has since been released.

Officials suspect the masterminds behind the attacks are Malaysians Noordin Mohammad Top and Azahari Husin, thought to be leading members of the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Both men are still at large.