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)