Medan bomb witness shot

Medan bomb witness shot

MEDAN, North Sumatra: A man who reportedly witnessed a
mysterious blast in a local church here in August is in a
critical condition after being shot by two unidentified gunmen on
Sunday.

Medan Police chief Sr. Supt. Hasyim Irianto was quoted by
Antara as saying that Koleb Situmorang, a driver of local priest
Benjamin Munthe, was shot when he was taking his employer and his
family to church on Sunday morning.

Hasyim said the attackers also threatened to kill Benjamin,
but spared him and left him and his family unharmed.

Benjamin was quoted by the news agency as saying that Sunday's
attack was the third assassination attempt on him.

He said, however, that he did not know why he had been
targeted.

Visiting President Abdurrahman Wahid speculated later in the
day that Koleb was attacked because he was one of the witnesses
to a series of bomb attacks in Medan in the past three months.
(byg)