Eight grilled over Bandung explosions

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung

A top police officer in West Java calmed public fears on Thursday that the two separate explosions that rocked Bandung a day earlier were caused by high explosives.

Meanwhile, eight people have been questioned over the incident.

Quoting a report from the police forensic team, West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Edi Darnadi said that the two separate explosions had been caused by hand-detonated, low-explosive devices.

"The police forensic team has not discovered chemical substances normally found in high-explosive bombs," Edi said in Bandung.

The forensic team has already discovered four small batteries, four lengths of cable and green aluminum foil.

The explosions took place on Wednesday morning on the sidewalk of Jl. Braga and the third floor of the Eterna Building in Banceuy trading center -- the two locations only about 100 meters apart. No fatalities were reported in the incidents.

The explosions came as a shock as they occurred in the city's downtown area, and at the height of the West Java police hunt for international terror suspects Dr. Azahari and Noordin Mohd Top.

Initial reports on the explosions also scared investors at the Jakarta Stock Exchange, who quickly put transactions on hold, fearing that the explosions could be a precursor to more violent attacks.

The two-star general, however, ruled out the possibility that the explosions were the work of professional terrorists, saying the detonators used were "simple".

Edi also said that the motives for the incident were still unknown, although the explosions targeted two places that had allegedly been used as gambling dens.

Edi said that the two were not gambling dens, but merely "ordinary amusement places". He also refuted allegations that there was a connection between the explosions and protests against gambling staged recently in Bandung, the capital of West Java province.

This was in contrast to an earlier statement made by National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung.

Soon after the explosions, the three-star general said they were acts of protest against gambling, as gambling dens appeared intentionally to have been targeted.

Bandung Police chief Sr. Comr. Hendra Sukmana said that the explosions did not cause any injury or damage to surrounding buildings. He said that his subordinates had questioned eight witnesses in the case, six of whom were in the parking lot of the Eterna Building, with the other two standing close to Jl. Braga at the time of the explosions. The police are due to question more witnesses.

A police forensic team was still seeking evidence on Thursday at the two explosion sites. The investigations attracted motorist passersby who slowed their vehicles down to look at what the police were doing there.