Police hunt head of Umar bin Khattab Islamic boarding school

The Jakarta Post, Thu, 07/14/2011 5:39 PM

Police are hunting the head of Umar bin Khatab Islamic boarding school in Bima regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), who fled to avoid investigation over a bomb that exploded in the school earlier this week.
"When police entered the school on Wednesday, they could not find the principal of the school, who seemed to have fled along with followers," National Police spokesman, Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana, said on Thursday.

"Police are continuing to search for him in all possible directions," he added.
Yoga declined to give either the man’s name or his initials.
Yoga said that the school’s leader and his followers managed to escape because they knew the surroundings at their school better than police.
"The school is located in an area twice as wide as a soccer field ... They knew the environment around their school, including escape routes," Yoga said.
He added that police would continue searching the school. During their investigations on Wednesday, police found nine Molotov cocktails and several weapons, including arrows, machetes, a sword and an air gun. They also found tools which can be used to make bombs, such as soldering-irons, cables and matches.
Police detained 13 people following the bomb blast at the school on Monday, which claimed the life of a teacher. However six detainees were later released, when investigations revealed they had no information about the blast.
Yoga said that currently police are carrying out intensive questioning of the remaining detainees.