Poso, Jakarta bombs linked: Kalla

Poso, Jakarta bombs linked: Kalla

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

A series of bombings that rocked the fragile peace in the Central
Sulawesi town of Poso recently could have links with a number of
blasts that jolted Jakarta this year, Coordinating Minister for
People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday.

Kalla arrived at the conclusion given similarities in the
method, bomb-making materials and appliances used by the
perpetrators of the incidents in Poso and Jakarta.

"Looking at how the bombs were detonated, there were
similarities," Kalla said while making a stopover at the
Hasanuddin airport during his flight from the Southeast Sulawesi
capital of Kendari to Jakarta.

Kalla mediated a peace deal between the warring sides in Poso
last December, which ended years of sectarian conflict between
Christians and Muslims that had claimed hundreds of lives.

Bomb attacks have rocked Poso seven times since the peace pact
was signed in Malino, a hilly town near Makassar. The latest
bombing hit a bus on the Poso-Tentena route on Sunday, killing a
17-year-old girl on board and injuring four others. Explosions
have claimed nine lives in the last two months alone.

"An investigation into the bombings in Poso has led the
security officers to people from outside the town," Kalla said.

Branding the attacks an act of terror, he said the moves were
aimed at reviving the conflict.

"They want to incite new clashes between the two groups that
decided to bury the hatchet seven months ago," Kalla said.

Religious leaders from Muslim, Catholic and Protestant
communities have repeatedly called for calm in response to the
bomb attacks.

Kalla said he had asked Coordinating Minister for Political
and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form an
investigative team in anticipation of new violence.

Separately, a large explosion shook Penghibur Beach, Talise
subdistrict, in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu on Wednesday
evening, shattering three wooden houses in the vicinity and
slightly injuring a man, Antara reported.

Police found another bomb after the blast, detained nine
people, one of whom was a woman, for questioning and seized a car
parked in the vicinity.