Blast rocks Poso, gunmen at large

La Remmy, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

A bomb blast rocked Betania village in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, as police intensified the hunt for masked gunmen who killed at least nine people in recent raids in the violence-torn district.

However, police and residents reported no casualties on Tuesday after the bombing at around 8 p.m. on Monday. However, the explosion caused panic among local people who feared further attacks.

The bomb exploded outside a house in Betania, Poso Pesisir subdistrict, but it did not damage the building. The blast came ahead of the arrival of Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the religiously divided town.

The target was close to the three villages of Saatu, Pantangolemba and Pinedapa, where masked attackers killed nine people, mostly Christians, in simultaneous raids at dawn on Sunday.

"We were shocked upon hearing the strong blast. We thought it would be followed by gunfire, so we were prepared to flee for safety," local resident Lucky S. told The Jakarta Post.

He said local people stood guard in their mountainous village, even though scores of police officers were deployed there.

Spokesman for the Central Sulawesi Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Sugianto confirmed on Tuesday the explosion in Betania, saying the bomb was a "low explosive".

After receiving a report on the incident, the police immediately sent personnel to provide security and investigate the case, he said.

Agus said that security conditions were largely improving in Poso after Sunday's attacks as activities in local government agencies and public places continued as normal.

Though roads into and out of Poso were tightly guarded by security forces, the traffic there was quite normal. Vehicular traffic continued during the night on the trans-Sulawesi highway.

"Classes at all elementary, junior and senior high schools throughout Poso are running smoothly like previous days," head of the regency's education office Suardin Ngewa was quoted by Antara as saying.

However, he admitted that several schools in Poso Pesisir had fewer students as their parents did not allow them to attend school for fear of further unrest.

On Tuesday evening, Minister Susilo arrived in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu, along with officers from the military and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), and held a closed- door meeting with Governor Aminuddin Ponulele.

Susilo declined to comment after the meeting. He will visit Poso, some 200 kilometers from Palu, on Wednesday morning to assess the situation and hold talks with local religious leaders.

Before flying to Palu, he said in Jakarta that outsiders rather than locals may have perpetrated the renewed attacks.

"Based on our analysis, apart from the local people, there are other elements from outside behind the attacks. They may have been living there for quite some time," Susilo said.

But the chief security minister could not identify the outsiders, who he said were familiar with Poso. It was also too early to uncover the motive behind the raids.

"Let our intelligence officers continue their investigation over the next five days to unravel the incident," Susilo added.

Meanwhile, refugees rendered homeless in the two years of sectarian fighting questioned the police's performance in providing them with security.

The police always blamed fresh attacks on trained gunmen but continued to fail to identify and arrest them, they said.

"Why are there more villages attacked? Why can't the police capture them (attackers). Poso is only a small town, while in the Bali blasts, they have managed to arrest the bombers. Why?" refugee Agustina queried.

Another refugee Hengky said the renewed violence forced him and others to stay at the refugee camps in Poso. "With the latest incident, I increasingly believe that Poso is not safe yet."

Poso was plagued by two years of religious conflict that began in 2000 but the violence largely ended in December 2001 with a government-brokered peace accord.

Earlier on Thursday, three people were killed when a similar group of gunmen raided Beteleme, a mainly Christian village in the neighboring regency of Morowali.