Four injured in fresh Poso blast<\/p>\n
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso<\/p>\n
The peace was again shattered in the Central Sulawesi city of
\nPoso on Saturday night when a homemade bomb exploded injuring
\nfour people.<\/p>\n
The bomb went off outside a house on Jl. Mongonsidi, Lawanga
\nsubdistrict, Poso city, at 11:15 p.m., causing panic among
\nmembers of the public, but they nevertheless managed to assist
\nthe victims, taking the injured to Poso General Hospital for
\ntreatment.<\/p>\n
The victims -- Sinta, 44; Selvi, 28; Ical, 19; and Fudin, 24
\n-- suffered only slight injuries caused by flying fragments and
\nwere released from the hospital soon after receiving treatment.<\/p>\n
The Central Sulawesi and Poso Police's bomb squad, led by Poso
\nPolice chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Soleh Hidayat, arrived soon after
\nthe explosion and immediately sealed off the area.<\/p>\n
The motive behind the bombing is still unclear, Soleh said,
\nbut said it bore all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack. Several
\nwitnessed have been questioned by the police but no arrests have
\nbeen made so far.<\/p>\n
\"I can't provide detailed information right now but I can say
\nthat it looks like a terror attack was perpetrated on Saturday
\nnight,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The bomb exploded just moments after revelers finished
\nperforming the controversial Dero folk dance at a birthday party
\noutside a resident's house located opposite the residence of Poso
\nregency secretary Awad Alamri.<\/p>\n
One victim, Fudin, said the alarm was first raised by another
\nvictim, Selvi, who saw sparks coming out of a package. Fudin
\nattempted to sound the warning but the bomb exploded before
\npeople could flee.<\/p>\n
The Dero dance is controversial in the region. Regularly
\nperformed in the past during local ceremonies like weddings and
\nbirthday parties, as well as harvest ceremonies, it was never
\nperformed in Poso between 1998 and late 2004 following its
\nprohibition by several hard-line Muslim groups.<\/p>\n
The groups banned the dance, claiming it was haram (against
\nIslamic teachings), as it was performed by men and women holding
\nhands. In traditional Islam, only men and women who are muhrim
\n(related and who cannot get married), may hold hands.<\/p>\n
Saturday's explosion was the first in Poso since newly elected
\nPoso regent Piet Inkiriwang and deputy regent Abdul Muthalib were
\nofficially installed two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Poso has been a flash point of sectarian clashes between
\nMuslims and Christians that left over 1,000 people dead in two
\nyears of bloodshed up to 2001.<\/p>\n
Up to August of this year, at least four bombs -- two of them
\nin Poso city -- had exploded, with the bombings at Tentena market
\nin May this year being the deadliest in Indonesia since the Bali
\nbombings of 2002 that killed 202 people.<\/p>\n
In May, two bombs ripped through the crowded market in the
\npredominantly Christian area of Tentena, killing 21 civilians and
\ninjuring 70 others.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/four-injured-in-fresh-poso-blast-1447893297",
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