LAKSAMANA.Net, October 9, 2002 05:36 PM
Bomb Blast Injures 6 in Ambon
October 9, 2002 05:36 PM
Laksamana.Net - A bomb exploded Wednesday (9/10/02) in the religiously divided
city of Ambon, Maluku province, injuring four civilians and two police officers, reports
said.
The Associated Press device quoted Brigadier General Sunarko Ardiyanto as saying
a passerby discovered the device hidden inside a plastic shopping bag in a
marketplace in Ambon's Christian quarter.
Police took the bomb to an open field but were unable to keep curious locals from
approaching the site. Two of the police and four locals sustained slight injuries when
the device suddenly exploded when police were trying to defuse it.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but police were quoted as saying that
unidentified extremists were probably trying to undermine a government-sponsored
peace agreement between Muslims and Christians.
At least a dozen people have been killed in a series of bombings in Maluku following
the signing of the truce in February.
About 9,000 people have been killed since the religious violence started in Ambon in
January 1999.
Much of the violence has been blamed on the radical Java-based Laskar Jihad
organization, which sent thousands of fighters to Maluku in 2000.
Laskar Jihad has refused to abide by the terms of the peace treaty and group’s
leader Jafar Umar Thalib is now on trial in Jakarta for inciting violence and hatred of
the government.
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