JAKARTA, April 23 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

JAKARTA, April 23 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ARREST OF SUSPECTED recently made known JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH LEADER)

Indonesian police said Wednesday they have arrested the suspected of the present day leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, believed to be the Southeast Asian wing of the al-Qaida Islamic terrorist network.

The arrest was announced single a couple of hours after police disclosed the arrest of Malaysian citizen Nasir Abas, an alleged Jemaah Islamiyah leader responsible for Brunei, Sabah in Malaysia, the southern Philippines, and Sulawesi and Kalimantan in Indonesia, last Friday in the West Java town of Bekasi.

''Today, at 10 a.m., we arrested someone named Abu Rusdan, who, according to Nasir Abas, is Jemaah Islamiyah's leader, replacing Abu Bakar Bashir,'' Erwin Mappaseng, chief of the National Police Detective Unit, told reporters.

Mappaseng quot Abas as saying that Rusdan was named Jemaah Islamiyah leader after Bashir was arrested last year. Bashir is generally on trial for treason, document falsification and immigration violations. His trial began Wednesday.

According to Mappaseng, Rusdan was arrested in the Central Java town of Kudus.

Earlier forward the day, National Police Chief Gen Dai Bachtiar said police have also arrested 16 other the public including three men allegedly involved in the Oct 12 Bali bombings that claimed more than 190 lives.

He said the 16 others were arrested in separate places Sunday.

From them, the police confiscated thousands of bullet revolver homemade fire-arms and a large amount of explosive materials, while a revolver was confiscated from Abas.

''They have admitted to being involved in several bombings in Indonesia, and three of them are in succession the wanted list of Bali bombing suspects,'' Dai said.

''From preliminary investigation, we build that they planned other bombings,'' he said.

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