The Jakarta Post, 3/3/2007 1:24:07 PM
Bomb blast at port in Ambon wounds at least 12, police say
AMBON, Maluku (AP): A bomb packed with nails exploded at a port in the eastern
Indonesian city of Ambon on Saturday, wounding 12 people in a region that has seen
deadly Muslim-Christian violence in the past, police said.
The blast in the seaside city on Maluku island shattered months of relative calm
there, but follows raids last month by police on neighboring Sulawesi island that killed
14 alleged Islamic militants. The explosion rocked the port as passengers
disembarked from a ship, sending nails and other shrapnel into a crowd of motorbike
taxi drivers waiting to collect customers, said Ambon policechief Sr. Comr.Trilulus
Rahardjo. Trilulus said two of the 12 wounded were seriously injured, but gave no
more details. He said the presence of shrapnel confirmed the blast came from a
bomb, but investigators were still unsure whether the device was hurled into the crowd
or concealed and left on the ground.Local residents said the explosion was heard two
kilometers (more than a mile) away. Muslims and Christians fought bloody battles in
the Malukus between 1999 and 2001 that left around 9,000 people dead.
The area - known as the Spice Islands in colonial times - has been largely peaceful
since 2001. Trilulus declined to speculate on who might be responsible for Saturday's
blast at the port, which is used by Muslims and Christians alike. During the early
fighting in Ambon, hundreds of people learnt how to make simple but deadly bombs.
Like in other cities in Indonesia, Ambon is home to many gangs who often fight for
control of illegal businesses or protection rackets. Nearby Sulawesi island was also
rocked by religious violence in 2000 and 2001, but killings and bombings mostly
blamed on Muslim extremists have been more common there in recent years. More
than 80 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslims, but Sulawesi and the
Maluku chain are evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.
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