The Jakarta Post, 3/24/2005 4:17:11 PM
Police detain three for blast in violence-hit Ambon
JAKARTA (AFP): Police in Indonesia's sectarian violence-plagued eastern Maluku
island chain said on Thursday they had detained three men for possible involvement in
an explosion which injured 14 people this week.
Leonidas Braksan, a district police chief in the city of Ambon, where the attack took
place, said the three had admitted to working as "assassins" prior to their arrest two
days ago.
Two men riding on a motorcycle threw a grenade which detonated by a public bus in
the downtown Batumerah district of Ambon late Monday.
"We are investigating whether they were involved in the explosion case," Braksan told
AFP.
Ambon and other parts of the Maluku islands were ravaged by three years of
Muslim-Christian clashes that killed more than 5,000 people before a February 2002
peace pact took effect.
But sporadic violence has continued and tension between the two communities has
remained high in Ambon and several of its surrounding small islands.
Police last month sent a team of elite snipers to reinforce Ambon, anticipating unrest
ahead of the Republic of South Maluku separatist group's "independence day" on April
25. (**)
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