Poso peace tested after bomb blast
Erik W. and La Remy, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
Peace in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso, once wracked by bloody sectarian fighting, was put to the test on Friday after a homemade bomb exploded in a food stall, injuring four people.
One of the victims, identified as Sutrisno, 40, sustained serious wounds in the blast on Thursday night, and had his right leg and left hand amputated, police said.
The other three -- Tini Alimin, 36, Melki, 33, and Fela, 2 -- are being treated in the intensive care unit of Poso general hospital.
The police said the bomb was contained in a bag found in the Cafi Victoria food stall located on Jl. Trans Sulawesi, Poso.
An unsuspecting Sutrisno opened the bag, thereby triggering of the blast, they added.
The explosion forced the authorities to tighten security for motorists traveling to and from Poso, with police checking passing vehicles.
The motivate behind the blast is not yet known. Poso Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Rudy Tranggono said he had deployed additional personnel to hunt down the bombers.
Local police officers said they believe the bomb was planted in the food stall as it reportedly sold alcohol. Rampant distribution of liquor in Poso was blamed for the first eruption of the two-year-long religious conflict there in 2000.
Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha flew on Friday morning to Poso, where he vowed to soon arrest the bombers.
He said that no suspects had been identified as yet, and appealed to the public to give the police time to solve the case.
Despite Thursday's bombing, Taufik claimed that peace had actually been restored in Poso, but admitted that a certain group of people still wanted to create chaos.
He said that around 2,000 security personnel would remain on guard in Poso to prevent renewed violence.
Local community leader S. Pelima questioned the security forces' failure to prevent the bombing. "Many security personnel have been deployed here, but the victims continue to fall. What're they here for?
He dismissed as "camouflage" the police claim that security had been restored in the town since early this year.
Pelima demanded that the police and military improve their work so as not to allow any more attacks to occur. "If there are still people falling victim to bombings and mysterious shootings, this means the security restoration operation launched in early 2002 has failed."
He said many unidentified outsiders had arrived in Poso recently and that they were believed to be behind the latest bombings and shootings.
Earlier on Wednesday, Yulius Ledo Pamimi, a 32-year-old resident of Saatu village in Poso, was shot dead by a sniper.
Police are still in the dark about the culprits as the bullets that killed Yulius could not be recovered because his family refused to permit an autopsy to be performed.
Another bomb also exploded two weeks ago in Kawua village, Lage subdistrict, when local residents were holding a traditional dance party. No injuries were reported in this blast.
In May, two other people were also shot dead by snipers in another part of Poso.
The renewed violence comes after months of relative peace in the region. In February 2002, Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace deal to end the fighting that by that stage had killed some 2,000 people.