Bomb scare mars burial of minister

Bomb scare mars burial of minister

The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta

A bomb scare at the funeral of Reverend Susianti Tinulele in East
Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Tuesday panicked Christians at the
same church where the clergywoman was shot dead two days earlier.

Effata Church secretary Anwar said he received a call at about
3:55 p.m. from a man who threatened to bomb the place of worship
in the next 10 minutes.

The threat was made when hundreds of worshipers were gathered
at the church for a service to farewell Susianti before her body
was buried at the Talise cemetery.

Police evacuated the church and searched the area for suspects
and bombs. They found nothing.

Palu Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Noman Siswandi said he
believed the bomb threat was a hoax aimed at disrupting
Susianti's burial.

The same day, pedestrian Sudisman Medinta, 38, was shot in the
leg by gunmen at Mapane village in Poso Pesisir district, a
hotspot for tensions.

Sudisman, who had suffered serious blood loss, was taken to
hospital shortly after the 4.40 p.m. shooting, Poso Police chief
Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Darma said.

Two days after the attack on Susianti, police announced on
Tuesday they had deployed 700 paramilitary Police Mobile Brigade
officers to guard all churches and mosques in Palu.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said police had
also sent a group of detectives and intelligence officers to help
in the hunt for the attackers.

Paiman said officers had blocked entry and exit roads to Palu
and had set up checkpoints to prevent the suspects from fleeing.

A police sketch artist had been dispatched to the city to make
pictures of the attackers, which would be distributed across the
province, he said.

"We have questioned several witnesses, including security
guards at the church, over the death of the clergywoman," he
said.

Susianti was gunned down while giving a sermon at the Effata
Church. Four other parishioners were wounded, with one remaining
in hospital in a critical condition.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha said the
killers were believed to be different gunmen from those who shot
dead prosecutor Ferry Silalahi in March.

While they were likely to have come from the same
organization, the latest gunmen fitted the description of those
who attacked the Pentecostal Church in Maranda, Poso, in March,
he said.

Taufik said police officers had investigated several places
believed to the gunmen's hideouts.

Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Victor D Batara
said Susianti's killers were still believed to be in Palu. He
said he had received a short text message from an unknown cell
phone number threatening to launch further attacks.

The Sunday incident was the latest in a series of recent
attacks on Christian targets in the province, which officials and
religious leaders said were aimed at provoking renewed violence
between Christian and Muslims. About 2,000 people died in Poso in
sectarian fighting between 2000 and 2001.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Communion of Churches chairman Nathan
Setiabudi said he believed the attacks did not have religious
motives. He called on all Christians to renounce revenge.

"We just want the culprits arrested as soon as possible," he
said after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri in
Jakarta.