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.