Police link Poso blasts with deadly Mamasa riot

Ruslan Sangadji and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Poso/Jakarta

The latest two bombing incidents in Poso, Central Sulawesi, may have been linked with Sunday's attack in neighboring West Sulawesi province, which killed at least four people, police said on Friday.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said his personnel were investigating the Poso blasts and the deadly attack in Mamasa regency, Central Sulawesi, which also left two persons seriously injured and seven houses burned down.

"We have arrested one suspect identified as Amiruddin for his role in the Mamasa riot, and he has admitted that his group wanted to create chaos in the city by conducting an attack.

"It's possible that the Poso blasts were related to the Mamasa case since all suspects in the Mamasa riot are living in Poso," Da'i said.

Poso was hit by two explosions on Thursday night. No injuries were reported however. Police said the bombs were low explosives.

The first incident took place at around 7:50 p.m., damaging the office of the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace in Poso (PRKP) located on Jl. Brigjen Katamso.

The second bomb was detonated around two hours later, damaging the office of the Institute for the Empowerment of Civil Society (LPMS) located on Jl. Monginsidi.

Poso Police deputy chief Comr. Ricky Naldo said the two explosions were likely to have been carried out by the same group, saying that the home-made bombs used were of similar types.

Central Sulawesi Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Sukirno could not reveal the exact motives behind the blasts.

However, there are suspicions that the attacks were either related to the upcoming direct regional elections that will start in June, or a Rp 2.1 billion (US$219,000) corruption case involving Poso refugee funds.

Poso police said they had questioned six witnesses from LPMS and PRKP, as well as local residents. However, none of them could identify the attackers.

PRKP director Darwis Waru told The Jakarta Post that he was convinced the blast was perpetrated to intimidate his organization to stop investigations into a corruption case.

"I'm not afraid. I am sure that it was an act by people opposed to what we do in investigating the corruption case," he said.

Separately, LPMS director Iskandar Lamuka admitted that he often received anonymous phone threats, and threats from people coming directly to his office, all of who warned him against pressing ahead with the graft probe.

Police have named several suspects in the corruption matter. They are Ahmad Laparigi and Andi Makasau, both employees of a non-governmental organization involved in managing the refugee funds; Anwar Ali, a former Poso social affairs office head, and his former subordinate, Elvis, who only uses one name.

The PRKP and LPMS are non-governmental organizations based in Poso, which have been pushing for investigations into alleged irregularities in the disbursement of government funds for refugees who had been forced to flee sectarian violence in the regency.

The two NGOs recently issued a list of names of people they accuse of involvement in the theft of refugee funds.