Blast rattles home of election official<\/p>\n
Indra Harsaputra\/ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
A bomb exploded late Friday in front of a house owned by a senior
\npoll official in the East Java regency of Pasuruan. No fatalities
\nwere reported.<\/p>\n
The explosion was the second incident so far, after an
\nanonymous party sent a package to the central General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) in Jakarta containing 11 live bullets, in
\nOctober last year. There are 11 KPU members.<\/p>\n
H.M. Sodiq, the chairman of Pasuruan's KPU who lives in
\nRembang subdistrict in the regency, recounted that he had been
\nlying on his bed at 11 p.m on Friday, around the time that the
\nbomb went off.<\/p>\n
First, he heard a car being driven east at high speed. Several
\nminutes later, he also heard a motorcycle speeding toward the
\nsame direction. The motorcycle slowed down, and at the same time,
\nthe bomb exploded, he recalled.<\/p>\n
\"Again, the motorcycle headed to the east. I believe that the
\nmotorcyclist had thrown the bomb in front of my house. It was a
\nreally big explosion. I thought that my house would be in ruins,\"
\nhe said on Saturday at his house, located on Jl. Masjid Jami'
\nhere.<\/p>\n
After the explosion, thick smoke enveloped Sodiq's house. He
\nsaid that he had no idea what the motive behind the bombing was,
\nbut admitted that in the days leading up to the bombing, he had
\nreceived several death threats via short-messaging-system (sms).<\/p>\n
He also recalled that a few hours before the bomb had
\nexploded, an unidentified man had been looking for him at the
\nPasuruan KPU office, in downtown Pasuruan.<\/p>\n
\"The person asked a staff member of the Pasuruan KPU office
\nwhere I was. The staff member replied that I was at home,\" Sodiq
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He demanded a swift investigation into the incident, for fear
\nthat other attacks could follow.<\/p>\n
Didik Prasetyono, a member of East Java provincial KPU,
\nexpressed surprise over the incident. He said that he was not
\naware of any conflicts between the Pasuruan KPU and political
\nparties hoping to contest the 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
Separately, the chief of Pasuruan Police Precinct, Adj. Sr.
\nComr. Lukman Wahyu, said that preliminary investigations revealed
\nthat the bomb had probably been wrapped in white cloth, as many
\npieces of white cloth were found at the scene.<\/p>\n
\"We are still trying to work out what kind of bomb exploded
\noutside Sodiq's house,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/blast-rattles-home-of-election-official-1447893297",
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