City residents warned of more bomb blasts

BIDADARI ISLAND (JP): Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu warned city residents on Thursday that there may be more bomb blasts in the capital in the future.

The military chief hinted that the bombing attempts in the city, which followed the initial bomb blast at the Attorney General's Office on June 4, 2000, were connected with previous blasts in a church and in front of a restaurant in the North Sumatran capital of Medan last May.

"I received information one or two months before the bomb blasts in Medan that similar incidents would also rock Jakarta.

"After the bomb blasts in Medan, I warned city residents of similar incidents here.

"There may be two or three similar bomb blasts in the near future in Jakarta," he told reporters after addressing the opening of a two-day gathering of military units under the supervision of the Jakarta Military Command in Bidadari Island of Seribu Islands, off the Jakarta Bay.

The first bomb blast rocked a Protestant church in Medan on May 28, injuring at least 47 people. Two more bombs which did not detonate were discovered in two other churches.

On the following day, another blast occurred in front of a restaurant, injuring three.

A month later, another bomb blast rocked Jakarta, exploding in a ground floor bathroom in a building at the Attorney General's Office compound on July 4. No fatalities were reported.

A day later, the national police bomb squad Gegana found another explosive device, said to be a more powerful one, on the ceiling of a bathroom on the second floor of the same building.

Ryamizard blamed the serial bombings on a certain irresponsible party.

"The party is a group of Indonesian civilians. But, if I disclose its name, it will create confusion among the public," he said.

The military chief said the group was among several which are undergoing military training and political discussion in an area in Central Java.

"The groups are conducting intensive military training, especially in accordance with the upcoming General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) next month," he said.

Separately, a source at the National Police Forensic Laboratory (Puslabfor) confirmed on Thursday that the second bomb found at the Attorney General's Office compound, which was marked with the distinctive markings of Military-One (M1), was a powerful one.

"The second bomb contained nearly 2,000 grams of trinitoluene (TNT). If it exploded, the files on the investigation into the alleged corrupt practices of (former president) Soeharto would have been destroyed, and it could have been even worse, since people who gathered inside and around the building due to the first blast, would have instantly died from the second bomb," he said.

In contrast, the homemade bomb which exploded contained no military or metal components, and had a blast intensity of less than 5,000 atms. It contained only nitrate remnants and kerosene, he said.

"When the homemade bomb exploded, it had a low blast intensity, but it violently shook the second bomb right above it," the official said.

The second bomb with a broker timer was found tied between pipes on the ceiling of a bathroom on the second floor of the building, right above the lavatory where the first bomb exploded.

"The violent force, broke the timer on the second bomb. This explains why the second bomb did not explode," he said.

The official said the blast of the first bomb was merely intended to draw the attention of as many people as possible around the site, on June 4, the same day of the questioning of Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra.

He said the second bomb was intended to cause heavy damage, after the first one exploded.

"The second bomb, which had a manual timer that had been already set, would have exploded, and would have caused a lot of destruction," the official said. (asa/ylt)