Bomb blast kills one person in Surabaya

Bomb blast kills one person in Surabaya

SURABAYA (JP): A 32-year-old housewife was killed in a blast
at her residence in a densely populated area of Kedung Sroko,
East Surabaya, on Tuesday morning.

Police have yet to conclude how the fatal accident took place.

William, head of the local neighborhood, said that the victim,
Nailul Aliyati, was about to buy chicken porridge sold by a
street vendor when she noticed a parcel inside a black plastic
sack lying on the verandah of her house on Jl. Kedung Sroko.

"Soon after she bought the porridge, the parcel exploded. The
explosion tore her body apart and injured Pranoto, the chicken
porridge vendor. Pranoto was thrown several meters but was
unhurt, though his cart was destroyed," William said.

However, another local, identified as Retno, said that
Aliyati, the victim, was about to pick up a morning newspaper
from her verandah when an unidentified man got down from a local
public minivan and threw a small black plastic sack at the
verandah of the victim's house.

"Seconds later, I heard a deafening sound and at the same time
noticed that the public minivan had just left the site," Retno
said to the police, adding that the public minivan served the
Jembatan Merah - Keputih route.

Police then found the public minivan in Keputih and held it
for further investigation. Police have not concluded anything but
confirmed that there was a chicken porridge vendor called Pranoto
and that there was a public minivan operating in the area at the
time of the explosion.

Pranoto, the chicken porridge vendor and Sarwono, the public
minivan driver, were among ten people being questioned over the
blast.

Surabaya City Police chief Sr. Comr. Itho Sumardi said, later
in the afternoon, that the man who reportedly threw the explosive
had yet to be identified.

"We are developing our findings and witnesses' statements,"
Sumardi said.

"We have received many bomb threats before," Sumardi said,
admitting that the police should have been better prepared.

Tentative results from examinations made by police forensic
experts indicated that the blast was caused by a low explosive,
though the front of the victim's house, including the steel
perimeter fence, was damaged by the explosive.

The victim's house also functions as an office of CV Mitra
Medika Indonesia.

Separately, in Yogyakarta, a homemade bomb exploded on Monday
night at the house of Christian preacher Rev. Johntan on Jl. HOS
Cokroaminoto. No casualties were reported in the blast. Only the
house's iron gate, near to where the bomb was planted, was
slightly damaged by the blast.

Eyewitnesses said that a motorist had been loitering around
the front of Johntan's house minutes before the explosion.

Yogyakarta Police chief of detectives Sr. Com. Toto Sunyoto,
said that the blast was a low explosion.

"The iron gate would have been completely destroyed if the
explosive had been powerful," he told The Jakarta Post, adding
that the main ingredient of the homemade bomb had been gunpowder.

Toto said that the police had yet to find any clues that could
lead to the suspect. (nur/44/sur)