Strong blasts scare people in Ambon

M. Azis Tunny and Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post/Ambon/Pekanbaru

Two loud explosions were heard in Ambon, Maluku province, on Wednesday night, forcing local residents to flee their homes in panic, and security forces to increase their alertness.

There were no reports of death or injury after the explosions. Neither was it clear whether or not the two separate explosions were bombs, as police investigations were under way on Thursday.

The explosions were an apparent attempt to provoke renewed violence after the latest riots on April 25, 2004, in which 41 people were killed in three days. The deadly unrest followed a parade by separatist activists in Ambon.

On Wednesday night, residents living in Talake, Ambon, ran out of their homes when an explosion was heard from the debris of a building that had been set ablaze during the April 25 violence.

Eyewitnesses said the blast hurled balls of fire into the air at the scene at around 8:30 p.m.

Around 15 minutes earlier, another explosion occurred at the Ambon office of state-owned electricity company PLN, panicking people in Jl. AY Patty, who also ran out of their homes.

The blast came from a garbage dump behind the PLN building, which is close to an office of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).

Kostrad officers later arrived at the scene to clear the area in order to prevent any more casualties being caused by possible further blasts.

The officers did not find traces of a bomb at the scene, even though the blast created a 30-meter-deep hole there.

Local Kostrad chief Lt. Col. Dwi Wahyu Winata, speaking at the scene, said the explosion might have been caused by an explosive device that had long ago been planted inside the piles of garbage.

The device might then have exploded after coming into contact with fire, he added.

"I could not establish whether it was a bomb or not. For sure, the explosion was very strong," Wahyu said.

Maluku Police arrived at 9:15 p.m. at the scene and found no traces of a bomb there after combing the area.

Ambon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Leonidas Braksan said on Thursday his office was unable yet to determine the motive behind either of the two explosions.

"The incidents could be an attempt to destabilize security in Ambon. We are still investigating them," he added.

Leonidas said he had ordered all of his personnel to be on the alert the night after the blasts to prevent any deterioration in the city's security situation.

Meanwhile, an act of terrorism took place on Thursday in the Riau capital, Pekanbaru, when an unidentified man threw a molotov cocktail at a dwelling in the Jondul housing complex on Jl. Kuantan Raya.

During the incident, which occurred at about 2:30 a.m., four people suspected of being commercial sex workers were staying at the targeted house in Block R No. 4.

"I was on duty when something was thrown and I saw fire break out. I immediately jumped over the fence to put out the fire," said a 59-year-old security guard at the housing complex, F. Talla.

However, he said he could not identify the attacker. "When I arrived at the scene, I did not see anybody," Talla added.

Rima, one of the women who was staying at the house, could not say what might have motivated the attack. "We feel we don't have any enemies," she added.

Police were investigating the incident.

Earlier, two houses occupied by Pekanbaru residents were the target of similar attacks when unidentified men threw molotov cocktails at them.

One of the two houses belonged to Riau legislative council deputy speaker Djuarman Arifin and the other was owned by lawyer PH Silitonga.