Experts baffled by nature of bombs in Tuesday's blasts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Police forensic experts are at a loss over what
\nexactly caused three powerful bombs to explode in an empty room
\nof a two-story boardinghouse at Jl. Cikoko Barat III No. 23 in
\nPancoran, South Jakarta, on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
National Police forensic laboratory deputy chief Sr. Comr.
\nDudon Setia Putra told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the
\nbombs contained the high explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene),
\npotassium chlorate and sulfur.<\/p>\n
\"What we are baffled by is how did these bombs explode when
\nthere were no detonators. No batteries, no detonators or
\naccelerators, nothing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The bomb blasts injured five people, and damaged at least four
\ncars and four houses, although no fatalities were reported.<\/p>\n
A forensic expert said that his immediate superior had
\ninstructed him and his subordinates to find out whether a
\ncombination of sulfur, potassium chlorate and TNT could explode
\non its own.<\/p>\n
\"Neither of the components in the three bombs could have
\nworked as an accelerator or catalyst. We are still testing the
\ntheory as to whether it was possible that the room temperature
\nand the level of oxygen in the room could have caused the bombs
\nto explode,\" the forensic expert, who requested anonymity, told
\nthe Post.<\/p>\n
Speaking for the National Police Forensic Laboratory, the
\nexpert said that whoever had made the homemade bombs had used
\nconventional steel pipes to make it look like he was a \"semi-
\nprofessional\" bomb assembler.<\/p>\n
\"We know that this is not the work of a semi-professional.
\nThis person knows explosives and is well-trained and probably a
\nbomb expert,\" the official said.<\/p>\n
Of the seven bombs found in and around the crime scene, the
\nforensic official said six were encased in steel pipes which were
\neach about 10 centimeters long and five centimeters in diameter.<\/p>\n
The bottoms of the cylinders were capped by steel caps, while
\nthe tops had red-colored fuses. Each pipe bomb, he said, weighed
\nabout 600 grams.<\/p>\n
The official added that aside from the seven bombs, police had
\nalso found 21 steel caps for pipes at the crime scene.
\nApparently, the assembler had planned to make 21 pipe bombs.<\/p>\n
Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul
\nAlam said on Wednesday that police detectives had released 41
\nwitnesses in the case, and had named at least 17 of them as
\nprincipal witnesses.<\/p>\n
The suspect at large is Edi Susilo, a student of Borobudur
\nUniversity who had been renting the room where the bombs
\nexploded.<\/p>\n
Anton said that police had distributed Edi's sketches to all
\npolice precincts and subprecincts.<\/p>\n
An official for the National Police Intelligence and Security
\nDirectorate, who also requested anonymity, added the police had
\nreceived information that the bombs were to have been planted at
\ngas stations across the capital.<\/p>\n
\"That was the plan and that is what we heard. Of course, this
\ntime too, God showed us his hand. We were saved from a disaster,\"
\nthe official said. (ylt)<\/p>",
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