Suspect bags force Ambonese to flee

AMBON, Maluku: Police secured on Tuesday two plastic bags suspected of containing homemade bombs and firearms in the Jl. Tulukabessy area near downtown Ambon, Maluku province.

The bags -- one red and another black -- were first found hanging on a fence by local residents at 10:30 a.m. The discovery forced vendors, pedestrians, and ojek (motorbike taxi) and public car drivers to vacate the area.

A police bomb squad team, which arrived around 35 minutes later at the scene, said the two suspicious bags contained used cans and blue and black cables, without bomb timers.

The police later took it to their Mobile Brigade headquarters for further investigation, and reopened the area to the public.

The police said the discovery showed that certain people had attempted to spread terror in Maluku, once wracked by three years of religious fighting since 1999.

Local Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace accord in February 2002 to end the conflict, but sporadic violence continued to break out occasionally.--Antara