Indonesia suspect details plot against president

By Telly Nathalia

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian radicals plotted to crash an explosives-laden car into a convoy carrying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono just weeks after deadly attacks on Jakarta hotels in July, a suspect said on Thursday.

Amir Abdillah said during a police reconstruction that Noordin Mohammad Top, who headed a violent wing of militant group Jemaah Islamiah and was killed by police during a raid in September, had ordered that the attack should take place soon after the July 17 hotel bombings.

"Noordin ordered it for between three weeks and up to a month after the blasts," said Abdillah, who was arrested after the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, which killed nine people including two suicide bombers.

Police had previously confirmed the plan to attack the president but not given details.

Abdillah was detained in connection with the hotel bombings and faces preliminary terrorism charges.

The police reconstruction took place just 400 metres (yards) away from Yudhoyono's residence in Cikeas, Bogor.

Abdillah pointed to the spot on the road where the attack had been due to take place and said that another militant, Ibrohim, who was killed in a police raid in August, was due to be the suicide bomber.

Ibrohim was supposed to crash the car into the convoy, while another militant named Toni remotely detonated the bomb nearby using a walkie-talkie, he said.