ABC AUSTRALIA, June 1, 2005. 9:14pm (AEST)
Police detain seven in wake of Indonesian bombings
Indonesian police have detained six men and a woman under anti-terrorism laws in the
wake of twin bomb blasts that killed 22 people in an eastern Christian town last
Saturday.
The town of Tentena, where the bombings took place last Saturday, is part of
Sulawesi island's Poso district where three years of Muslim-Christian fighting killed
2,000 people until a peace deal was agreed in late 2001.
Deputy national police spokesman Soenarko Artanto told reporters the detainees
included a prison warden from the nearby town of Poso and three fugitive inmates.
He did not say if any had links to the Saturday attacks, the worst in the world's most
populous Muslim nation since the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, mainly
foreign tourists.
"Up until now, we have detained seven. Firstly, the head of Poso prison, who was
arrested after he was found in a car with illegal firearms and other weaponry in the
Tentena region on Monday night," Mr Soenarko said.
He did not give precise details on why the others were detained.
"In questioning them, investigators have the authority to use the anti-terror laws," Mr
Soenarko said, adding police were grilling 30 other witnesses over the bombings.
Under the anti-terrorism laws, introduced after the Bali bombings, police can detain
anyone with preliminary leads for questioning for seven days before deciding whether
to name them suspects.
Indonesia has said the Tentena attacks bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah, a
group linked to Al Qaeda and blamed for a series of attacks on Western targets in
Indonesia.
Security experts have said home-grown Islamic radicals were more likely responsible.
About 85 per cent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. But in some eastern
parts, Christian and Muslim populations are about equal.
-Reuters
© 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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