Five injured as violence returns to Palu city
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
Unknown assailants sprayed bullets at a Palu church and later detonated a bomb in another church in the city on Sunday night, injuring at least five people.
The incident, the second in the past five months, has served as a wakeup call for police personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas celebrations on Dec. 25.
The first incident, amid heavy rain, took place at 7:15 p.m. at Anugerah Protestant church in Palu city, the capital of Central Sulawesi province.
Witnesses said that the incident began when an unidentified man, accompanied by three others riding two motorcycles, sprayed bullets randomly at the church from the road. The bullets shattered widows and hit two people sitting on the back pews of the church. Hundreds of others, who were also attending the Sunday service, quickly ran for cover, Arnold Nyawa, a Protestant minister who was giving a sermon, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency. The four attackers quickly fled following the shooting.
The two victims -- Sri, 19 and Rada Krisna, 36 -- were rushed to Undata Hospital and were treated for serious gunshot wounds.
The incident was followed 15 minutes later by a bomb explosion at Immanuel Church, only half a kilometer south of Anugerah Church. Witnesses said that they were attending a church service when the bomb exploded in front of the church's entrance.
Binti Jaya, 60, a security guard in the church was seriously injured, while two churchgoers Ani and Fina, traumatized by the blast were also taken to the Salvation Army Hospital and treated for shock.
Police personnel secured the churches after the incident.
Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, the chief of Central Sulawesi Police, briefly visited the churches and said that the police were tracking down the perpetrators.
The blast was caused by a low explosive bomb, Aryanto said after a preliminary investigation.
The shooting came five months after a similar shooting that left reverend Susianti Tinulele, 29, dead. Susianti was shot dead by an unidentified man while delivering a sermon in Effata Church in Palu in July this year. Four others were also injured in the incident.
Palu is only a few hundred kilometers from the restive regency of Poso, where major bloody conflict took place in 2000. The sectarian conflict left some 2,000 Muslims and Christians dead and dozens of others fled the area for safety. Government- sponsored peace talks were held in 2002 to resolve the conflict, but tension still grips Poso as intermittent attacks still occur in the regency. On several occasions, attacks have also spread to Palu, as evidenced in Sunday night's incident.
Separately in Surabaya, Surabaya Police chief Sr. Comr. Eddy Kusuma Wijaya said as quoted by Antara on Sunday that 332 churches in the city would be tightly guarded by Surabaya Police during Christmas services to prevent possible attacks.
The police have provided security at churches in the past few years following simultaneous explosions in various churches nationwide on Christmas Eve in 2000 when at least 15 were killed and dozens of others injured.