Agence France-Presse, Tue May 25, 4:44 AM ET
Bombing at Christian market in Indonesia's Ambon city kills one,
wounds 13
AMBON, Indonesia (AFP) - A bomb killed one person and injured 13 in the Christian
sector of Indonesia's Ambon city and police defused another device planted near a
church.
The blast at Batumeja market at around 10:30 am -- the third in the city in three days
-- sparked panic among residents and shopppers.
A nurse at Bakti Rahayu hospital nine injured people were being treated, of whom
three were in serious condition. A nurse at the Maluku Protestant Church Hospital
said five people were admitted and one of them later died.
City police chief Leonidas Braksan said officers defused a bomb planted in the
grounds of Maranatha church. He said a suspected bomb at the tax office turned out
to be a false alarm.
The city in the eastern Maluku islands is still recovering from an outbreak of
Muslim-Christian violence which began on April 25. Some 38 people were killed and
hundreds of homes and other buildings were torched.
Sporadic violence is continuing even though the government has sent in hundreds of
extra troops and police.
Two blasts on Sunday injured five Christians in what national police chief Da'i Bachtiar
described as an attempt to provoke more trouble.
"It is regrettable that there are still people who want to provoke trouble. But thank
God, people can no longer be easily provoked," Bachtiar said on Monday, adding that
police would search for weapons in the city.
Ambon and some other parts of the Maluku islands were ravaged by three years of
sectarian clashes which killed more than 5,000 people before a February 2002 peace
pact took effect.
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