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)