LAKSAMANA.Net, November 14, 2004 12:52 AM
5 Killed in Poso Explosion
Laksamana.Net - Five people have been killed and at least four injured by an
explosion in a public passenger minivan near a police station in the religiously divided
city of Poso in Central Sulawesi province.
The explosion reportedly occurred at 9.15am Saturday (13/11/04) when the minivan
was outside a crowded market located 100 meters away from the Poso Police
station.
Two of the casualties were women, identified by detikcom online news portal as Warni
Jones and Dolly. The other casualties were yet to be identified.
Police said the cause of the blast was not immediately known, but state news agency
Antara said a bomb had exploded.
Bloomberg quoted local police chief Abdi Darma as saying that the blast damaged at
least two vehicles parked near the minivan.
The explosion occurred on the eve of Idul Fitri, the Islamic holiday that marks the end
of the fasting month of Ramadhan.
Police said they were investigating the blast but had yet to discover the motive or any
suspects.
Fierce communal clashes between Muslims and Christians in Poso and other
districts in Central Sulawesi left about 2,000 people dead over 2000-2002.
Much of the violence was blamed on Java-based militant Islamic group Laskar Jihad
and feuding factions of the Indonesian Defense Forces.
The government in December 2001 sponsored a peace deal that largely put an end to
the carnage, but sporadic killings and bombings have continued, mostly targeting
Christians.
In October 2003, masked gunmen killed 13 Christian villagers in Morowali and Poso
districts. The International Crisis Group blamed the killings on a new local Islamic
militia group, Mujahidin KOMPAK, which it said emerged in Central Sulawesi as an
offshoot of regional terrorism network Jemaah Islamiyah. It said most of the attackers
were locally recruited men, who had family members killed in attacks on Muslims in
May-June 2000 and were probably motivated by revenge.
Over recent months there has been an increase in religious violence, including the
gunning down of a Christian preacher during a church service in July.
On November 4, a Christian village head in Poso was killed and decapitated. On
November 8, the driver of a public passenger minivan in the city was shot dead.
On October 21, a guard at Poso's Bethany Church was shot dead. A week before the
church shooting, a Hindu woman was killed and two Christian men wounded when a
group of unidentified attackers opened fire on their houses. On the same day, two
Christian men were hacked to death by assailants wielding machetes in a rural
district south of the provincial capital Palu.
The killings have fueled speculation that shadowy forces are attempting to provoke a
return to large-scale religious violence in Central Sulawesi, possibly in an effort to
destabilize the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who came to power on
October 20.
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