Five live bombs discovered in Medan Mall

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

A supermarket employee discovered on Tuesday five live bombs of a high-explosive capacity at a supermarket in Medan Mall, which failed to explode due to weak batteries.

So far, no one has been linked to the explosives, which may have been intended to cause disruption ahead of the general election.

Supriadi, who works at the bag deposit counter at Macam Yoahan supermarket, said he found the bombs inside a bag kept in the supermarket's bag deposit counter.

"I found the bombs by accident when I became suspicious about a black bag that had been left at the bag deposit counter for several days and had not been collected," he said after reporting it to the local police here on Tuesday.

He said that the bag had been left at the counter on Thursday, but he could not recall who had left it.

"I can't remember who left the bag since scores of shoppers deposit their bags at the counter every day," he said.

A bomb squad from the provincial police who arrived at the site only minutes after receiving the report is still examining the explosives.

Medan Police chief Adj. Comr. Juni Duarsah said the multi- story Medan Mall would have collapsed if the bombs had exploded.

The supermarket is located on the mall's second floor.

He said the live bombs failed to explode because the nine batteries that were connected to a watch with an alarm and the explosives' two detonators were very weak.

"According to the time indicated by the clock, the bombs should have exploded at 5 p.m. West Indonesia Time on Thursday," he said. The bombs that were of the M-112 type and weighed one kilogram each were foreign-made and of high-explosive capacity said Duarsah.

Duarsah said the police had not yet determined who may be responsible, "but the bombs were (likely) aimed at disrupting political stability in the province ahead of the election campaign period that would start on March 11.

"We have set up a joint team from the police to look into the case and the possible perpetrators," he said.

He said that the police would enhance security in the city to ensure that the legislative and presidential elections proceeded peacefully in the province.

North Sumatra has been the target of several bomb attacks since the fall of former president Soeharto.

Besides several explosions that rocked the city over the past four years, a number of explosives have been discovered in public places. Packages of explosives were found at Sukaramai Market in January; seven members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were arrested and another was shot dead in connection with the explosives. In the same month, a package of explosives was also discovered on the road between Medan and Belawan.

In January, 2000, several homemade bombs were found in three churches in the city and Abu Yasar, a member of the Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist group, is still facing terrorist charges at the Medan District Court in connection with the planned church bombings.

The court recently handed down sentences of between two years and 10 years to 10 rebels who were found guilty of bombing three public places, including the Medan mayor's office, in August, 2001, March 2003 and April 2003.