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Bali bombers buried in emotional ceremonies

Other News Materials 10 November 2008 01:01 (UTC +04:00)

Three Indonesian militants executed on Sunday for the 2002 Bali bombings were buried by their families at ceremonies attended by thousands of supporters shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest), Reuters reported.

Some analysts had warned of a hardline backlash but the funerals went off relatively peacefully, despite some scuffles with police and reporters.

The three men from the militant group Jemaah Islamiah -- Imam Samudra, 38, Mukhlas, 48, and Amrozi, 46 -- were executed by firing squad on Nusakambangan island in central Java shortly after midnight, the attorney-general's office said.

The two explosions on Bali's Kuta strip on October 12, 2002 killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians.

"People need to be vigilant and there's a possibility of someone responding to the appeal of the three dead men but I don't think people should believe that there will automatically be some active terrorism," Sidney Jones, a security expert from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said.

In an interview with Reuters last year, the militants said their only regret was that some Muslims were killed.

Emotions ran high as thousands of people poured onto the streets for the funerals after the bodies were flown by helicopter to their home towns -- brothers Mukhlas and Amrozi to Tenggulun in East Java, and Samudra to Serang in West Java.

About 3,000 people gathered when Samudra's body, covered in a black shroud with Islamic inscriptions, was carried to a mosque. Some jostled to touch the body or help carry the bier.

In Tenggulun, thousands of militant Islamists from various groups had gathered, shadowed by armed police.

People chanted "Goodbye Syuhada (heroes)" and "Allahu akbar" as the bodies of Mukhlas and Amrozi were taken from the mosque to an Islamic boarding school where controversial cleric Abu Bakar Bashir led prayers for the brothers.

Bashir, who has been accused of co-founding regional militant group Jemaah Islamiah, was jailed for conspiracy over the Bali bombings, but later cleared of wrongdoing.

Earlier, there were some clashes with the police as authorities tried to prevent the crowd from getting too close to the bodies.

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