Powerful bomb discovered in Bandung super mall
Powerful bomb discovered in Bandung super mall
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
An active high-powered bomb was found in the basement of a seven- storied super mall, the Bandung Plaza Indah, which was crowded with shoppers in the West Java capital of Bandung on Thursday.
The local police confirmed that the bomb was the second found over the last five days with unclear motives. The first one, of a similar type, was found in a public place in the city on Monday.
"We are suspicious that the two bombs have something to do with the observance of the World Labor Day that will fall on May 1, 2002," Comr. Adeni Mohan, a police officer who led a group of antiterror police who took the explosive, said on Thursday.
The bomb was found by Agus Adnan under his car at 12:50 p.m. local time as he was getting into his car in the mall's basement after shopping in the mall.
Hundreds of shoppers began to panic including several who jumped from the mall's second floor, as word of the attempted bombing spread.
Agus, who immediately became suspicious of the device spotted under his car, reported it to 40-year-old Mahfudin, the mall's security guard, who reported it to the Bandung Police Precinct.
A group of antiterror police arrived an hour and 10 minutes later and proceeded to diffuse the device before taking it to the Police Precinct for further examination.
First Brig. Mugito, said the explosive, which was equipped with a timer which read 19:30 was similar to the one found on Monday in a crowded area of Gasibu in the city.
He said the police have frequently received telephone calls from unidentified people on a number of explosives which were said to be put in public places in the city, but most of them turned out to be hoaxes.
"But, for this bomb, we did not get a telephone call," he said, adding that the bomb would probably have caused damage within a one-kilometer radius.
He said that despite being homemade, the bomb was made by professional people because it was well designed.
Mohan added that the police had stepped up security in the city recently to combat the increasing terror by "certain groups" who wanted to disturb the city.
"We called on local people to stay alert in an anticipation of the increasing terror currently. People should immediately report to security personnel if they find explosives which have been put in public places," he said.
Bandung Police have recently provoked the ire of at least one extremist group in the city, after arresting several members of the Indonesian Islamic State (NII), but there was no indication that they were connected to either of the bombs this week.