AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Friday, August 26, 2005, 4:16 AM ET
Indonesian police arrest five more suspects over Ambon blast
Indonesian police have arrested five more suspects following a bomb blast that
wounded seven people in the religiously divided eastern city of Ambon.
During the arrest on the nearby island of Seram late Thursday, hours after the
explosion hit an Ambon market, police had shot at the five as they tried to flee,
Ambon policeman Jefri Juniarta said.
Two of the suspects were being treated at the Ambon police hospital for apparent
gunshot wounds to the legs, while the other three were bruised, an AFP
correspondent reported.
District police chief Leonidas Braksan, speaking on ElShinta radio, said two of the
suspects were believed to be linked to a local hardline Muslim group called the
Mujaheedin.
Juniarta said the five were also believed to be involved in previous attacks in Ambon,
including the killings of five police on Seram in May, and the killings of two people in
an attack on a karaoke club in Ambon.
In the latest attack, Thursday afternoon, explosives stored in two cardboard boxes
went off at Mardika market while being carried in a pedicab, wounding the driver and
six nearby pedestrians.
Police a few hours later arrested the man who had given the bomb to the unwitting
pedicab driver.
The market where the attack took place is frequented by both Muslims and
Christians. Six of the injured were Muslims.
Ambon and other islands in the Maluku chain have been the scene of
Muslim-Christian violence that has left more than 5,000 people dead between 1999
and 2002.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
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