The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Tenggulun

Thousands of Indonesians poured onto the streets for the funerals of three militants executed on Sunday for the 2002 Bali bombings, causing some clashes between police and emotional supporters.

The three men from the militant group Jemaah Islamiah-Imam Samudra, 38, Mukhlas, 48, and Amrozi, 46 -- were executed by firing squad on Nusakambangan island in central Java shortly after midnight, the attorney-general's office said. The two explosions on Bali's Kuta strip on October 12, 2002 killed 202 people including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians. The bombers' bodies were flown from the prison by helicopter to their hometowns-brothers Mukhlas and Amrozi to Tenggulun in Lamongan, East Java, and Samudra to Serang in West Java.

"Looking at this, I feel sad, but then I am also proud that he is a Mujahid (Muslim fighter)," said Nuranda, a woman who came to offer her condolences to Samudra's family.

Tensions ran high as about 3,000 people from west Java cities gathered when Samudra's body, covered in a black shroud with Islamic inscriptions, was carried to a mosque for prayers, with some jostling to touch the body or help carry the bier.

Some shook their fists in the air chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) but others seemed to be just curious spectators.