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CANBERRA - The three Bali bombers were shot beneath a near-full moon hidden by clouds, with Amrozi, the most defiant at his trial, pale and afraid as he and his companions were bound to wooden stakes, reports of the executions said yesterday.
Amrozi Nurhasyim's older brother Ali Ghufron,
also known as Mukhlas, shouted "Allah Akbar" (God is great) repeatedly as three separate firing squads carried out the executions near the high-security prison on Nusakambangan Island in central Java, un-named sources told News Ltd newspapers.
Amrozi, 47, Mukhlas, 48, and Imam Samudra, 38, refused blindfolds and died instantly at 12.15am on Sunday, officials said.
Details of the deaths of the men responsible for the October 12, 2002 bombings emerged as Australian authorities stepped up warnings against travel to Indonesia, especially by thousands of students planning to celebrate on Bali the end of their secondary schooling.
The bombers' deaths have also prompted renewed calls within Australia for stronger opposition to capital punishment, and a pledge by Canberra to co-sponsor a resolution in the United Nations General assembly urging a moratorium on executions.
Security has been tightened by Indonesian agencies and at Western diplomatic missions following demonstrations during the funerals of the bombers, and bomb threats against the Australian and American embassies.
Threats of wider reprisals are also being taken seriously.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the co-founder of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah, believed to have organised the bombings, urged others to continue to defend Islam to the death.
The executed bombers' fighting spirit in defending Islam should be followed, he told supporters.
"We will win the fight in this world or die as martyrs."
Most commentators believe that this radical view is not shared by most Muslims in Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation. Many extremists believe that Amrozi, Mukhlas and Samudra were martyred.
Samudra was the field commander of the team that set off the bombs that killed 202 people including three New Zealanders and 88 Australians. Mukhlas was the operational leader and Amrozi the man who obtained the vehicle and bomb-making materials used in the attack.
Although none showed remorse, Amrozi cheered when he was sentenced to death.
News Ltd newspapers yesterday said sources inside Batu prison where the men had been held, and involved in the executions, had reported that the bombers appeared resigned to their fate.
They said at about 11pm on Saturday about 30 members of the paramilitary Brimob police, masked in balaclavas, shackled the men hand and feet, with chains running from wrists to the ankles, before they were taken to a convoy of double-cab utility trucks.
The men had fasted and had been praying all afternoon, and had shouted "Allah Akbar" to an otherwise-silent jail as they were led out.
Amrozi was in the first vehicle, Samudra in the second and Mukhlas in the third during a drive to the execution zone of Nirbaya, about 3km from the prison.
The men were tied to wooden posts, the execution order was read by Bali prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, and the signal to shoot was made by a sword at 12.15am on Sunday.
News Ltd said the men were pronounced dead by a doctor at 12.20am.
With tensions high in the wake of the executions, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith warned that Canberra continued to have credible information that terrorists might be planning attacks in Bali. Smith also said that Australia continued to oppose capital punishment and would pursue a moratorium at the UN.
But John North, solicitor for Scott Rush, one of three Australians facing execution in Bali on drug charges, accused the Government of inconsistency for failing to campaign for the bombers' lives.
"We probably can't expect them to do it because [the bombings] were such monstrous crimes, but they should make it quite clear to the many Indonesians that they value life, all human life," he told ABC radio.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hass Wirajuda said the bombers' executions showed the nation was consistent in implementing its laws, and that countries should respect each others' legal systems.
But he said Canberra could still help Rush and convicted accomplices Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, who still could use appeals, judicial reviews and clemency provisions to escape death.
