Nine injured in latest Ambon bomb blast

M. Aziz Tunny and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Ambon/Jakarta

Nine people were injured on Thursday when a home-made bomb exploded at a market in Ambon, Maluku, the scene of widespread Christian-Muslim violence between 1999 and 2002.

The explosion took place at around 2:30 p.m. Ambon time, around the same time as Maluku Governor Karel A. Ralahalu was attending a gathering some 2,600 kilometers away in Jakarta at the Vice Presidential Office to report on positive developments in Ambon following the government-sponsored Malino peace accord that ended the clashes that claimed thousands of lives.

Shortly after the meeting, attended by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and other top government and security officials involved in brokering the 2002 peace agreement, Karel received a phone call.

"There has been an explosion at the Mardika market in Ambon," a crestfallen governor told one of his colleagues.

The police said that the primitive bomb, which was packed in cardboard boxes, exploded while being transported by a pedicab at the Mardika market, injuring the driver and nearby passersby.

Two cars, two motorcycles and two pedicabs were damaged in the blast.

The pedicab driver, identified as Bal Passal, said that an unidentified man had asked him to deliver two small cardboard boxes to the Mardika bus station.

As he was driving his pedicab to the destination, Passal smelt what he believed was sulfur. Becoming suspicious that something was wrong, Passal decided he would try to find the man again.

However, the packages exploded before he could do so.

"The man had dark skin, and was about 145 centimeters tall," Passal told reporters.

The Mardika market, which is also known as the Baku-Bae market, was set up to serve both Muslim and Christian communities in Ambon after the signing of the Malino peace agreement.

The police identified Kasim Wali, 20, as being the man who asked Passal to deliver the boxes, and quickly arrested him. The police have named Wali as the prime suspect in the case.

"We have arrested the prime suspect. We are now seeking other suspects. The bomb was a low explosive device but it was intended to explode in a public place," Adj. Comr. Leonidas Braksan, Ambon and Lease Islands Police chief told reporters.

He explained that the bombing shared similarities with other terrorism cases that had occurred in the past, all of which were aimed at disrupting security in the city.

"The prime suspect is not the mastermind. He was told to do this," Leonidas said, adding that the police were still analyzing the motive behind the bombing.

The Ambon Police were working hand in hand with the Maluku Police's antiterror unit to find the real masterminds, he said.

Karel called on the police to take resolute action against the perpetrators.

"They must be punished to the full extent of the law," he said, adding that he was confident that Ambon people would not be provoked into violence by the incident.