ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 28, 2005 1:09 p.m. ET
Twin Bomb Explosions in Indonesia Kill 22
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALU, Indonesia (AP) -- Two bombs exploded in a crowded market in a
Christian-dominated town in central Indonesia on Saturday, killing at least 22 people
and wounding 40, police said. The blasts came two days after unspecified security
threats prompted the United States to close its diplomatic offices.
The explosions within 15 minutes of each other flattened food stands in the Sulawesi
island town of Tentena. Witnesses said many of the victims had come to help those
injured in the first blast, only to be killed by a second, larger explosion that left a
3-foot-deep crater. The blasts also damaged a bank, a church and a police station.
''The latest report says 22 people were killed,'' Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a news
conference in Makassar, provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
A Christian clergyman and a 3-year-old boy were among the dead, police said.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombings at the meat and produce market, but
Kalla said without offering proof that they were not connected with ongoing sectarian
violence between Muslims and Christians.
''It was carried out by the terrorists instead of warring Muslim and Christian factions,''
he said. ''The motive of the perpetrators is to disturb the security situation in Poso.''
More than 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims. It is the world's
most populous Muslim nation, but central Sulawesi has roughly equal Muslim and
Christian populations.
Tentena, site of the market bombings, is 35 miles from Poso, where fighting between
Muslims and Christians claimed at least 1,000 lives in 2000-2002. Palu is 74 miles
from Poso.
Rinaldy Damanik, a Christian clergyman and leader of the Synod Churches of Central
Sulawesi, also ruled out the involvement of local groups.
''The blasts were different with what happened here in the past,'' he said. ''This has
nothing to do with the sectarian conflict. This is the work of uncivilized terrorists who
just don't want to see peace in this region.''
Police later discovered an unexploded bomb outside a nearby church, said Poso
district chief Andi Asikin Suyuti.
In January, police found 60 homemade bombs in an abandoned house in Poso, and
security officials last year blamed the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group for
attacks that killed at least 12 Christians.
On Thursday, the United States closed its embassy and diplomatic offices -- including
those in Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and the island of Bali -- until further notice, citing
security concerns.
Police said they did not know of any specific threats against Americans but added
that they had intelligence indicating that Malaysian terror suspects Azahari bin Husin
and Noordin Mohamed Top might be planning attacks. Their targets typically are
Western-related.
National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Anang Budihardjo said he could not rule out the
possibility that Azahari played a role in the latest Poso bombing.
''I cannot say (the bombs) were the work of Azahari's group, but because he has been
a fugitive for long, it is possible that he has recruited new members in the region,'' the
spokesman said Saturday.
The two Malaysians are believed to have masterminded two of the worst past attacks:
a Sept. 9, 2004, blast at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta that killed 10 people, and
an Aug. 5, 2003, blast in Jakarta that killed 12 at a Marriott hotel.
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