Seven questioned over Riau blast<\/p>\n
Fadli and Abdul Khalik, Batam\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police investigators have questioned seven people about the bomb
\nblast that rocked the Riau provincial capital of Pekanbaru early
\non Tuesday, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Riau Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. S. Pandiangan said all of
\nthose questioned were Pekanbaru residents and that they were
\ncurrently being treated as witnesses.<\/p>\n
The spokesman declined to spell out the details of the
\nquestioning, simply saying: \"We are still looking into the case.\"<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said
\npolice investigators were focusing their attention on one of the
\npeople injured in the bombing, who was thought to have
\ninformation on the blast.<\/p>\n
The man, who was badly injured, was found by police after the
\nexplosion some 30 meters from the spot of the blast. The police
\nchief said there were some questions about whether the man,
\nidentified as Irwanto, had some connection to the bombing.<\/p>\n
\"Substances discovered on the clothes being worn by Irwanto
\nwere similar to the substances used in high-explosive bombs.
\nBesides, what was he doing at the scene of the bombing before
\ndawn on Tuesday?\" Da'i said.<\/p>\n
Da'i, however, said it would be sometime before police were
\nable to question the man, who remains in critical condition at
\nthe hospital.<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday, police investigators were still sifting
\nthrough evidence at the blast site. They are looking through
\ndebris on Jl. Arengka in Pekanbaru for clues that could lead them
\nto the perpetrators.<\/p>\n
The bombing early on Tuesday in front of a shop-house killed
\ntwo people, who have been identified as Sipon, a maid, and
\nSriyati, a shop assistant. Four other people were injured: shop
\nowner Along, his wife Yuliana, their son Stephen and Irwanto.<\/p>\n
The bombing happened just hours before trial of a man charged
\nin the 2000 bombing of a Riau church on Christmas Eve opened at a
\nlocal district court.<\/p>\n
Police have said they were looking into a possible connection
\nbetween the bombing and the trial.<\/p>\n
The police also announced on Wednesday that they had
\ndiscovered residue of the high explosive RDX nitrate at the blast
\nsite.<\/p>\n
\"The blast was the biggest to hit the city,\" Riau Police chief
\nof detectives Insp. Gen. Syafrizal Ahiyar said as quoted by AP.<\/p>\n
RDX nitrate was used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed
\nmore than 200 people. A similar substance was also used in the JW
\nMarriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta last year, which left 13 people
\ndead, including the bomber. Those two bombings were allegedly the
\nwork of the regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah.<\/p>",
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