47 injured in Medan chruch blast
47 injured in Medan chruch blast
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): With sectarian violence already
testing the unity of the country, a blast rocked a Protestant
church here on Sunday, injuring at least 47 members of the
congregation.
North Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutanto said the
explosion shook the Indonesian Protestant Church (GKPI) at around
8:30 a.m. during a Sunday service. There were no fatalities.
The officer said the blast at the church was believed to have
been a homemade bomb, but he said the police would investigate
what type of explosive was used.
A check at local hospitals found at least 47 injured.
Twenty-nine were rushed to private Elizabeth Hospital, five to
Herna Hospital and 13 were taken to the police hospital, medical
staff said.
"Most of the injuries were caused by flying shrapnel," nurse
Halimah at Herna Hospital's emergency unit told The Jakarta Post
by phone.
Later in the day Governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin visited the
victims at Elizabeth Hospital, shortly after a visit to a nearby
islet for a sports commitment.
He told reporters he had been informed the bomb that injured
members of the Protestant congregation was of the same type as
those used in Maluku and Jakarta violence. "This is certainly
designed by provocateurs," he said.
Muslim-Christian clashes have plagued the Maluku islands since
January last year, killing over 3,000 people and leaving a wide
trail of destruction across the islands.
Fresh sectarian clashes have also hit the Central Sulawesi
town of Poso over the past week after first erupting last month.
Dozens were reportedly injured in Poso on Sunday as the conflict,
which has claimed at least three lives, dragged on. Sayo and
Kasiguncu were subdistricts affected the most by Sunday's unrest,
Antara reported.
Sutanto said that a second bomb was discovered at the Batak
Protestant Church (HKBP) on Jl. Sudirman, Medan, and a short time
later a third bomb was found at the Christ the King Church on Jl.
M.T. Haryono.
Sutanto said the second bomb was detected by a church warden
and later detonated outside by members of the police's bomb
squad.
The third bomb, however, went off accidentally when it was
about to be detonated at the local police's Mobile Brigade
Headquarters, injuring Sgt. J. Fritz.
Following the blast and the discovery of the bombs, a meeting
was held between leaders of the North Sumatra military and
police, local administrative and religious leaders.
The meeting, Sutanto said, was to prevent further violence.
The police chief warned that the incidents were an attempt to
stir up sectarian violence similar to that in the riot-torn
province of Maluku and called on the public to exercise
restraint.
"I ask the congregation to remain calm, and not fall prey to
actions which might only add fuel to the fire. Do not fall prey
to provocation following this incident," Sutanto said.
He said the police believed the bomb might have been a
homemade device because nails flew in all directions when it
exploded.
General-secretary of the North Sumatra chapter of the
Communion of Indonesian Churches, A.R. Pardede, and the chairman
of the local Council of Indonesia Ulemas, Mahmud Aziz Siregar,
also called on the public to refrain from blowing the incident
out of proportion.
Medan, a city of some 2.5 million people, has a large
Christian population, mostly from the Batak ethnic group. Muslims
are mostly from the Malay ethnic group.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the largest Muslim organization
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, said the blast was part of
an attempt to undermine the government.
"A series of troubles, and now an explosion at a church in
Medan, will eventually lead to an attempt to topple the
government," Hasyim was quoted by Antara as saying on Sunday.
He labeled the blast as a "systematic and well-coordinated"
attempt to stir up trouble.
Hasyim added that Medan had been carefully chosen as the
populations of both Muslims and Christians in the city were
almost equal in number.
Political observers believe that the ongoing sectarian
conflict in Maluku could last a long time because of the fairly
equal population of the warring Muslim and Christian communities.
Hasyim therefore called on the public not to be provoked by
actions that were "deliberately created to destabilize" the
country.
President Abdurrahman Wahid, who chaired the NU for more than
15 years before being elected to the presidency in October last
year, has repeatedly claimed there are people attempting to
topple his government before the People's Consultative Assembly
General Session in August. (39/byg)