Suicide bombing not ruled out in Aceh blast
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police are starting to investigate the possibility that a deadly bomb blast in Peureulak, East Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, was a suicide bombing.
At least 10 people were killed, including infants, and dozens of others were injured.
"It is true that we can't identify one of the victims at all but that doesn't mean he is the actor. So, we can't be sure if the bombers are also the victims," National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar told reporters on Friday.
The four-star general did not mention specific parties that could be responsible for the bombing, which occurred during a music concert held to celebrate New Year's Eve on Wednesday night. Local authorities had said the bomb was handmade and therefore likely the type used by the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
The bomb blast was the bloodiest incident since the government applied martial law in the natural-resource rich province last May.
So far there are no records of suicide bombing in Aceh's conflict.
Da'i explained that the police would investigate further to determine whether the bomb was handmade.
"We will investigate (to find out) who the bombers are and whether the source was a homemade bomb, or from other kinds of explosives. For that reason, we have deployed more bomb squad teams (Geghana) to East Aceh and a mobile forensics lab," Da'i said.
Separately, the Indonesia Military (TNI) reiterated on Friday that the bomb was homemade.
"The homemade bomb that exploded in the crowd was the kind usually used by the local separatist movement (GAM)," deputy spokesman of the martial law administrator in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Lt. Col. Firdaus Kumarno, told Antara.
Firdaus also revealed six of the victims died on the spot, while four others, including two boys aged one-and-a-half years old and seven years old, died on the way to the hospital.
He said he was yet to obtain a detailed report of the explosive materials of the bomb.
On Friday a team of physicians and paramedics were deployed from Banda Aceh to Langsa hospital to aid victims.
"We have conducted surgery to remove shrapnel from the victims," the head of Aceh Health Agency, Mulya A. Hasjmy, said. He said 20 victims suffered serious injuries and eight sustained minor injuries.
In a related development, the Swedish government has planned to send a team of police and prosecutors to Indonesia as part of legal proceedings taken against GAM leaders currently residing in Sweden.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Friday that Stockholm was arranging the time for the visit.
"We have conveyed a formal invitation for them to come here and meet other GAM members and they have responded positively, saying that they are planning to visit as soon as possible," Marty told The Jakarta Post.
He said that the visit would help Indonesia's efforts for legal action against the rebel leaders who had obtained Swedish citizenship.
GAM leaders Hasan Tiro, Zaini Abdullah and Malik Mahmood have been living in Sweden since 1989 and leading the rebel movement from abroad.
Swedish prosecutors have repeatedly asked for additional evidence to establish a link between these men and the ongoing separatist movement in the province. Sweden had said earlier that the men had yet to be proved guilty of breaking any laws in Sweden.