Bomb kills 1 in Ambon while 2 others defused

Bomb kills 1 in Ambon while 2 others defused

Oktovianus Pinontoan and Abdul Khalik, Ambon/Jakarta

Attempts to apparently provoke further fighting between Muslims
and Christians in Ambon, Maluku, continued on Tuesday as a bomb
exploded outside a market, killing one and injuring 12 others.

The religious and community leaders of Maluku signed a 2002
peace deal that ended years of conflict, but that is being put to
another test.

Tuesday's death toll could have been worse, as it was learned
that the police defused two others, one planted near a church and
another near an office building. It was the third blast in three
days.

Tuesday's bomb went off at around 10:30 a.m. causing panic and
increasing tension among residents and shoppers in several areas
across Ambon.

The victims, five of them with serious wounds, were rushed to
hospitals after the blast rocked a traditional market in the
Batumeja area, Sirimau subdistrict.

The homemade bomb was placed in a cake can, inside a black
plastic bag and hung on a motorcycle handlebar.

The suspicious package was later put in the middle of a street
by several traders who then reported it to the police, some 200
meters away.

Police officers arrived at the scene and sealed the area off.
But 30 minutes later, the bomb exploded before the bomb squad
members could defuse it.

One victim, Dominggus Pattipeilohy, died at Dr Haulussy
hospital at around 12:10 p.m. after severe injuries to his chest
from the shrapnel.

The other injured victims had been some 20 meters away,
outside the police line, as it exploded.

At the same time, police defused a bomb planted in a flower
pot near a church office on Jl. Panjaitan and another at the
former tax office on Jl. Benteng Kapaha.

There also was a report that a bomb was placed inside the
Indojaya shop on Jl. Yan Paays, but police officers found nothing
there.

On Sunday two blasts injured five Christians in what National
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar described as an attempt to
provoke more disturbances.

Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Adityawarman said that
Tuesday's bombs were assembled by those with a high level of
skills.

A special team from Jakarta would arrive to examine the bomb
so as to determine its components, he added.

Meanwhile, Maluku Governor Karel Ralahalu criticized
intelligence officers for failing to prevent the recent spate of
bombings.

"Intelligence officers have to give 110 percent. They should
not have arrived at the scene after the bomb explodes. They
should have prevented them and detected the perpetrators," he
said.

Echoing Da'i's statement, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen.
Paiman said there were no plans for immediate reinforcements
despite the blasts, but asked local people to remain alert
against further provocation.

"The motives behind the bombings are clearly to provoke a new
conflict among the people of Ambon," he said.

He added that the police were investigating possible
involvement of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatists in the
bombings. "We have recaptured six RMS members who had escaped
from the police detention cells last week. They are being
interrogated in Jakarta."

Paiman said the police had finished the dossiers of 13 other
separatist suspects charged with treason, including Maluku
Sovereignty Front (FKM) fugitive leader Alex Manuputty's wife and
daughter Oli and Christina Manuputty.

They would be sent back to Ambon for trials, the spokesman
added.

The FKM has been blamed for triggering the renewed violence on
April 25 after a separatist flag was flown. At least 41 people
were killed and hundreds of homes and other buildings were
torched.

Ambon and other parts of the Maluku islands were ravaged by
three years of sectarian clashes which left more than 5,000
people dead before a February 2002 peace pact took effect.

Manuputty, 56, who was convicted of treason and sentenced to
four years in prison, has said international peacekeepers should
be sent to Maluku.

He accused the Indonesian government of inciting religious
violence there, saying snipers shot many of the 41 people who
died in Ambon last month.

"Indonesia continues to become a place where they harbor
terrorism," he told The Associated Press in an interview last
week in California, where he has been living.