Bomb hurts Manila envoy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): While the police have yet to uncover the truth
\nbehind a bomb blast at the Attorney General's Office compound
\nearly last month, another bomb exploded outside the residence of
\nthe Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Leonides T. Caday on Jl.
\nImam Bonjol in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Two people -- Sopyan, 30, a security guard at the ambassador's
\nresidence, and an unidentified woman -- died in the blast.
\nAnother 21 people were injured, including the ambassador.<\/p>\n
The blast was the second time in 14 years that foreign
\nmissions in the country have been targeted. The first incident in
\nMay 1986, involved three separate acts on the same day. The first
\nat the Wisma Metropolitan building on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central
\nJakarta; the second in an eighth floor room of the President
\nHotel, also on Jl. M.H. Thamrin; and the third near the entrance
\ngate of the former National Monument (Monas) Jakarta Fair Ground,
\nalso in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The room at the President Hotel was allegedly the launching
\nsite for a rocket projectile aimed at the Japanese Embassy here,
\nwhile the Jakarta Fair Ground was the launch site of another
\nprojectile aimed at the U.S. Embassy.<\/p>\n
The heavy blast on Tuesday, which was heard from a radius of
\none kilometer, damaged several buildings surrounding the scene,
\nincluding the front windows of the National Election Commission
\n(KPU) building, which is located directly in front of the
\nambassador's residence.<\/p>\n
The blast also damaged windows in the nearby Bulgarian Embassy
\nand at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Center.<\/p>\n
The Philippine ambassador's blue Mercedes Benz sedan, which
\nwas parked inside the compound, was severely damaged while the
\nwindows of dozens of other cars parked in front of the KPU
\nbuilding were torn apart.<\/p>\n
Leaves and tree branches were scattered across the main
\nthoroughfare of Jl. Imam Bonjol, while an electricity pole
\nlocated at the Bulgarian Embassy's entrance gate, a few meters
\naway from the blast, was tilted.<\/p>\n
Several pieces of debris from the Bulgarian Embassy building
\ndamaged portions of a house belonging to a man identified as
\nFerry Martono, which is located on the right side of the bombed
\nresidence. They also shattered the windows of 21 vans parked at
\nthe KPU headquarters and destroyed the roof and several portions
\nof the residence of City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo.<\/p>\n
A battered and burned Koperasi taxi stood outside Edy's
\nresidence, the registration plates of which were damaged and
\nunreadable.<\/p>\n
A police source said that another white Taft jeep, which had
\nthe registration number B 8149 ER, must have crashed into the
\ntaxi when the blast occurred.<\/p>\n
"The blast blew off an arm of the taxi driver, who remains
\nunidentified and is currently receiving treatment at the Cipto
\nMangunkusumo General Hospital. He might turn out to be an
\nimportant witness," a source said.<\/p>\n
An iron gate, which separated the Bulgarian Embassy and the
\nPhilippines ambassador's residence, was ruined while the blast
\nalso severely damaged the front side of the two buildings.<\/p>\n
The blast created a huge hole in the ground right outside the
\nentrance gate and destroyed a water pipe, sending water gushing
\nfrom the site.<\/p>\n
Even as police detectives cannot confirm the presence of TNT
\n(the flammable toxic compound trinitrotoluene) in the bomb, a
\nMobile Detective (Resmob) source said the powerful blast
\nindicated as much.<\/p>\n
Between Ferry Martono's residence and the residence of the
\nPhilippine envoy is located a small foodstall tended by a woman
\nidentified as Siti Maesaroh.<\/p>\n
Siti was nowhere to be found at the site. Some sources
\nbelieved the unidentified dead woman was Siti, but there was no
\nconfirmation of this from the Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital morgue.<\/p>\n
Next to the foodstall is a door, which opens to a shack where
\nSiti probably lived.<\/p>\n
Behind the door, police found personal items of Siti,
\nincluding a letter issued by Central Jakarta Police Headquarters,
\nNo. Pol. 492\/P.4\/XII\/1999\/Restro JP, which one police source said
\nwas a summons.<\/p>\n
On the back of the letter, in large, rough handwriting, the
\nfollowing words were written:<\/p>\n
"In all matters, we have been trodden upon, but we are not
\ntrapped! We do not know what else to do, but we have not been
\nleft alone. We have been tortured, treated like animals".<\/p>\n
Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Nurfaizi said a Suzuki Katana
\njeep had probably been placed in front of the entrance gate of
\nthe ambassador's residence for the purpose of being exploded.<\/p>\n
"As soon as the ambassador's Mercedes Benz reached the home
\nand was about to enter, the bomb went off, injuring both
\npassengers (driver and ambassador) in the car," Nurfaizi told
\nreporters at the blast scene.<\/p>\n
"It's possible that the driver of the Suzuki jeep is the
\nalleged bomber. The ambassador had left his office (on Jl. Imam
\nBonjol 6-8) at about 12:15 p.m. in his car. He had made his mind
\nto lunch at his residence. Upon reaching the entrance gate, the
\nbomb went off."<\/p>\n
A police source said he was sure the van which was blown to
\npieces in the blast was a Suzuki Carry, and not a Suzuki Katana.<\/p>\n
An eyewitness, who requested anonymity, however said that it
\nwas a black Kijang van.<\/p>\n
The burned engine of the jeep with No. F10A703342 lay strewn
\naround the bombed residence. City traffic police confirmed that
\nthe jeep turned out to be unregistered.<\/p>\n
Solikin, a staffer at KPU, said he was chatting with one of
\nhis friends when the bomb exploded.<\/p>\n
"It occurred at around 12.25 p.m. I was very surprised as the
\nblast sounded very loud," he said.<\/p>\n
Hendrawan, an employee at nearby Bank Bumi Daya building, said
\nhe was on the building's fifth floor when the explosion occurred.<\/p>\n
A security guard at Edy Waluyo's house in front of the
\nambassador's residence, Dedek, said the flames which rose from
\nthe explosion were very powerful.<\/p>\n
"The fire almost reached my face. One of my friends, Idup
\nGandhi, who was about to open the gate was severely injured in
\nhis hand," Dedek told the Post, citing that he was sitting at the
\nhouse's security post when the bomb exploded.<\/p>\n
An official statement from the Embassy of the Philippines said
\nAmbassador Leonides and his driver Eben Eiser were rushed to the
\nCipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta after the
\nblast.<\/p>\n
"The ambassador's condition was not dangerous but the local
\ndriver appeared to be in a critical condition," said the
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
Nurfaizi said Ambassador Leonides was receiving medical
\ntreatment at the Medistra Hospital in South Jakarta and Idup
\nGandhi had been transferred to the Army's Gatot Soebroto Hospital
\nin Central Jakarta while the other 19 injured, including the
\nambassador's driver, another Embassy staffer identified as
\nViernes Ricardo, a taxi driver and a child were being treated at
\nthe Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital.<\/p>\n
A police source said the bomb was probably remote-controlled.<\/p>\n
A statement from the City Police stated that Menteng Police
\nsubprecinct detectives were questioning eight witnesses who were
\nidentified as Ismail, Kasiman, Ali Topan, Mirda, Syarifudin Nur,
\nZulkarnaen, Maisaroh and Wah Fuji. (asa\/dja\/jaw\/lup\/ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bomb-hurts-manila-envoy-1447893297",
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