JAKARTA - A Malaysian bomb expert led the preparations for the suicide bombing of a US-franchised hotel in Jakarta last August, an Indonesian defendant said today.

Mohammad Rais, 29, admitted he collected chemicals for a bomb but said he did not know it would be used to blast the Marriott hotel. He said a Malaysian called Noordin Muhammad Top made all the preparations.

"For me, jihad (holy war) is to fight US soldiers. I do not agree with the random killing of civilians," said Rais, who wept in court.

Rais is accused of helping ship chemicals to make the bomb and of recruiting the suicide bomber who attacked the Marriott and killed 12 people. He could face death if convicted under an anti-terror law.

Rais testified that a man named Toni Togar, who will face trial separately, had given him chemicals which were left over from bombings at Pekanbaru on Sumatra island in 2000.

He said Noordin had ordered him to send the chemicals to the city of Bengkulu by bus.

"I also went to Bengkulu to hand over 10 detonators and 30 sticks of TNT from Togar to Noordin," Rais said.

Differing views

But Rais, who was arrested in Pekanbaru in April 2003 over a fake passport, said he did not know what the bombs made with the chemicals were to be used for.

"When the Marriott bomb took place, I was in detention and a policeman told me of it. I suddenly felt somehow guilty and had a gut feeling that the explosion was linked to the chemicals I gave Noordin," Rais said.

He said he did not share the Malaysian's radical jihad views.

Noordin and another Malaysian called Azahari Husin are being hunted for the Marriott attack and for the Bali bombings which killed 202 people in October

Police have blamed the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah for both attacks and for a string of other bombings.

Rais's trial was adjourned till April 15 to hear prosecutors make their sentence recommendation. - AFP