Q+A - Islamic militancy expert Sidney Jones on Indonesia bombs

By Ed Davies

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police and analysts have linked suicide attacks on two luxury Jakarta hotels to Islamist militants, possibly a breakaway faction of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group linked to Malaysian extremist Noordin Top.

The JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton bombings on Friday are a severe blow for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected this month in a landslide victory.

Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based expert on Islamist militants at the International Crisis Group, answered some questions from Reuters on the attacks and here are excerpts from the interview.

Q - What are the hallmarks that indicate this is linked to Noordin Top?

A - The most important hallmark is the suicide bombing as a method of attack and also the targeting of iconic Western symbols, both of those are associated more with Noordin than with mainstream Jemaah Islamiah.

Q - Would that mean it wasn't necessarily his direct involvement, it was a member of his group?

A - So it's possible to have both a courier or a go-between reporting back to Noordin and kind of proxy group operating on his behalf. But some of the suggestions I've heard just in the last few days suggest that there's actually an inner circle of Noordin that may have been involved in this bombing.

Q - What will be the impact on foreign perceptions of Indonesia's security and will there be any political ramifications for Yudhoyono?