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.