Security has been stepped up as the execution is expected to take place on Saturday morning.
The members of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant group were sentenced to death in 2003 over the attacks on packed nightspots on the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
JAKARTA - INDONESIA stepped up security around foreign embassies and public places Friday due to fear of attacks in retaliation for the imminent execution of the three Bali bombers, police said.
Bombers' brother proud
TENGGULUN (Indonesia) - A BROTHER of two of the Bali bombers on death row said on Friday he was proud of them as they prepared to face the firing squad over the terrorist attacks which killed 202 people.
Mr Ali Fauzi, the younger brother of convicted terrorists Amrozi and Mukhlas, also said he was sure they were on the 'right path' in their final days, after authorities said the stage was set for their executions.
JAKARTA - BOMBS suspected to have been set up for a retaliation attack over the execution of the Bali bombers have been uncovered in a restive Indonesian region, police said on Friday.
Two bombs were found Wednesday and Thursday in Poso, which lies in Central Sulawesi, in areas popular with migrants from the Hindu-majority island of Bali, local police chief Suparni Parto told AFP.
Police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said extra police had been stationed around embassies, especially the US and Australian missions, as well as sensitive locations across the main island of Java.
'We are increasing security at embassies and public places such as malls,' he told reporters.
Officials have said convicted terrorists Imam Samudra, 38, Amrozi, 47, and Mukhlas, 48, will be executed by firing squad any time from midnight Friday until mid-November.
They were sentenced to death for the 2002 attacks on the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people including more than 160 foreigners, one of the worst terror bombings since the 2001 attacks in the United States.
Fears of a violent backlash from Islamist radicals in the world's most populous Muslim country have risen amid reports that hundreds of extremists are planning to gather near the Java prison where the bombers are being held.
Security has also been boosted on Bali and around the prison island of Nusakambangan off southern Java.
The vast majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderate but a small fanatical fringe have waged jihad, or holy war, for many years in a bid to bring about an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia.
The country of 234 million people has been hit by a string of attacks since 2000, including a suicide bombing in Bali which killed 20 people in 2005, a car bombing at the Australian embassy which killed 10 people in 2004 and another car bombing at the American-owned JW Marriott hotel which killed 12 people in 2003.
Most of the attacks have been attributed to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network. -- AFP
