Indonesian police hunt for escaped McDonald's restaurant bomber

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Indonesian security forces launched a nationwide search Monday after an Islamic militant escaped from prison, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for transporting explosives for a 2002 attack on a McDonald's restaurant, the national police chief said. Wirahadi, who like many Indonesians uses one name, was the second Islamic militant in three months to make a daylight break from the prison on the central island of Sulawesi. Embarrassed officials were investigating the possible involvement of guards. Wirahadi was among 17 men convicted for the blast that killed three people and wounded 15 at the McDonald's in South Sulawesi province. It came weeks after nightclub bombings killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, on the resort island of Bali. Both attacks were blamed on Islamic militants with loose ties to al-Qaida.