Suicide bombing not ruled out in Aceh blast

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.