Police Interrogate Two As Bali Search Intensifies

Police in Indonesia are interrogating two people over Saturday's Bali bombing, as Indonesia comes under increasing international pressure to find those responsible for the attack.

The Indonesian national police chief, Da'i Bachtiar, said: "We are interrogating two people intensively. One said he was present when the incident occurred."

He said the second person was related to someone whose identification card was found at the blast site, but had not been found. Both interviewees were said to be Indonesians.

The police had earlier questioned about 30 foreigners as witnesses to the bombing, but none of them were being treated as a suspect, they said.

Police said they had questioned 10 Pakistanis last month about their activities in Bali and might want to question them again if their inquiries into the blasts provided a link. A spokesman, Yatim Suyatmo, said he did not even know if the ten were still on the island. He said: "There is no indication that they are related to this case, but if the investigation teams find any new development that indicates a link we will question them again."

The Indonesian defence minister, Matori Abdul Djalil, said he fears there is a connection between the nightclub attack and al-Qaida, adding that the bombing was the work of professionals.

He said: "I am not afraid to say, though many have refused to say, that an al-Qaida network exists in Indonesia. I am convinced that there is a domestic link with al-Qaida."

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, said Jemaah Islamiyah - the south-east Asian extremist group believed to have links with al-Qaida and suspected by some of involvement in the Bali bombings - should be listed by the UN as a terrorist group.

The US embassy in Canberra said they would support Australia's move to have Jemaah Islamiyah named as a terrorist group, even if it risked stirring anti-western sentiment in Indonesia.

"We feel that Jemaah Islamiyah should have been listed as a terrorist entity for some time now, based on their activities and the suspicion that they were involved in this Bali attack. I think the US wants to see that justice is done," said embassy spokesman Matt Conoley.

The militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who runs a religious school in central Java, has denied involvement in the Bali bombings. Bakar, the alleged spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, is offering to be questioned by police on Thursday.