Blast rocks Attorney General's Office<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An explosive devise exploded in a building in
\nthe Attorney General's Office compound in South Jakarta on
\nTuesday evening, causing minor damage but no casualties.<\/p>\n
The blast came just an hour after prosecutors questioned
\nformer president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala
\nPutra in connection with his father's alleged involvement in
\ngraft.<\/p>\n
South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Supt. Edward Aritonang said the
\npolice were examining the explosive and questioning three
\nwitnesses, two of whom were taken to the police station for
\nfurther interrogation.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot tell you what caused the blast based on brief
\nobservation. The fact is it came from the men's bathroom on the
\nground floor,\" Aritonang told reporters at the scene of incident,
\nlocated about 100 meters from Attorney General Marzuki Darusman's
\noffice.<\/p>\n
Marzuki was in the compound when the incident took place at
\nabout 6 p.m. but soon left his office for a function at the
\nUnited States Embassy to celebrate the country's Independence
\nDay.<\/p>\n
Later, he said it was too early to speculate on the
\npossibility of a political motive behind the blast.<\/p>\n
\"However, I think it is necessary for extra security measures
\nin the compound,\" Marzuki told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The explosion ruined the ground floor's bathroom, the glass
\ndoor next to it and the windows of the bathroom on the second and
\nthird floors. It also shattered a part of the building's wall.<\/p>\n
Some state prosecutors were in a meeting on the fifth floor at
\nthe time, evaluating the trial of one defendant in the Bank Bali
\ncase, Djoko S. Tjandra.<\/p>\n
Rudi, a driver of provincial prosecutor Nurdin Rachman, said
\nhe saw a man running through the shattered glass door toward the
\nmain entrance of the building a moment after the blast rocked the
\ncompound.<\/p>\n
The man, later identified as Beni, claimed he was a driver of
\nPT Bahana and was urinating when a bang coming from the ceiling
\nstartled him. A piece of the ceiling landed on his head before he
\nmanaged to run out.<\/p>\n
\"My clothes are all wet and my head is bruised,\" Beni, who
\ndrove a white Peugeot with license number B 3 AE, told the media
\nminutes before the police arrived and took him and Rudi away for
\nquestioning.<\/p>\n
Juan Felix Tampubolon, who heads the Soeharto family's team of
\nlawyers, said Soeharto would face questioning on Thursday,
\nfurther \"torture\" for his 79-year-old client who he claims
\nsuffered permanent brain damage after a mild stroke.<\/p>\n
A shooting incident marked Tommy's questioning by House of
\nRepresentatives legislators in May. (bby)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/blast-rocks-attorney-generals-office-1447893297",
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