Strong blast stuns Mampang residents
Strong blast stuns Mampang residents
JAKARTA (JP): Only four days after the blast at Slipi flyover,
West Jakarta, an explosive device exploded on Sunday evening
under the Mampang Prapatan flyover, South Jakarta, injuring at
least two people.
Located near the traffic lights under the Mampang Prapatan
flyover, the blast occurred near a gas station and a little over
300 meters from the Mampang Prapatan Police station.
No fatalities were reported, but two persons, both women,
suffered light injuries. The two, who were reportedly crossing
the street when the blast occurred, were sent to Fatmawati
Hospital in South Jakarta.
The blast also caused the windows of a passing Gamya taxi as
well as the windows of a passing Kijang van to shatter.
The driver of the taxi, Syaiful Hendrik, 31, a resident of
Meryung in Limo, Depok, miraculously escaped injury. He was then
questioned by the police as a witness.
The van, the four tires of which were also punctured by the
blast, was carrying eight people, including two boys aged four
and 11, all of whom escaped injuries.
The van belonged to Johnny Abral Malik, 47, a staff member at
the Ministry of Agriculture's human resources development
division.
"I saw a package flying in front of us ... falling, the sound
was extraordinarily loud. We all covered our ears," said Mieke,
25, a relative of Johnny who was in the van, at the Mampang
police station.
"We all screamed and the next second, we heard the van's
windows shatter. We were just so terrified."
Police detectives questioned at least 15 witnesses, while bomb
squad officers scoured the area.
Sunday's explosive devise which caused the blast at 6:50 p.m.
hit the asphalt under the flyover, causing chunks of the asphalt
to ricochet and hit the windows of a passing Kijang van and taxi.
A city police detective said that the blast was caused by a
high powered explosive, possibly TNT (trinitrotoluene). Another
police source, however, said that the blast was caused by a hand
grenade.
South Jakarta Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. F.F.J. Mirah
suspected that the explosion was part of a campaign to create
chaos in the capital ahead of the convening of the special
session of the People's Consultative Assembly.
"This is getting to be a habit. All of this is happening just
days before the special session. I can't stand this," Mirah, who
was surveying the crime scene in his shorts, told The Jakarta
Post at the site of the explosion.
The Assembly is slated to convene the special session on
August 1, that will likely lead to the impeachment of President
Abdururahman Wahid.
Sunday's explosion came only four days after an explosive
device blasted under the Slipi flyover in West Jakarta on July
11. The blast injured 14 people and one victim eventually died as
a result of his injuries.
In the July 11 blast, police believe that the explosive device
was thrown by people from a truck crossing the Slipi flyover.
This however, was not the case in Sunday's blast.
"We believe someone just passed the traffic light under the
Mampang Prapatan flyover, threw the bomb package and escaped.
There were no witnesses that saw anyone.
"It (package) couldn't have been thrown from the flyover. The
position of the damaged asphalt caused by the blast does not
match the assumption that something was thrown from the flyover,"
Mirah said. (ylt)