Three bombs explode in Pancoran boarding house

JAKARTA (JP): Three powerful bomb explosions on Tuesday morning seriously injured five people and caused extensive damage to a boarding house on Jl. Cikoko Barat III No. 23, in the Pengadegan subdistrict of Pancoran, South Jakarta.

No fatalities have been reported as a result of the blast.

The three homemade bombs exploded within seconds of each other, reducing most of the boarding house to rubble but miraculously leaving seven other live bombs intact.

Seven homemade explosives, all without detonators, were found after an extensive police search of the boarding house and of one other boarding house located in the vicinity of the blast site, on Jl. Cikoko Barat IV, No. 64.

Officers at the crime scene believe that the sheer force of the blasts could have caused an explosive to have been propelled into the boarding house on Jl. Cikoko Barat IV.

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacob said police believed that the source of the blasts came from room no. 6A, located on the second floor of the two-story building on Jl. Cikoko Barat III.

The room was rented out to a man named Edi Susilo, a student at Borobudur University. Police have declared Edi as a suspect at large.

"Edi reportedly rented that room two weeks ago. According to boarding house residents, Edi has not shown up in the past week. We are trying to track him down," Sofjan said on Tuesday evening.

The boarding house on Jl. Cikoko Barat III had 32 rooms, 27 of which were occupied. The house belongs to Amiruddin Siregar, who is reportedly in North Sumatra. He delegated management of the house to his son, Amri Saburhan Siregar, 33.

Sofjan added that an unidentified man had contacted him to claim responsibility for the blast.

"It is my belief that the bombs were not aimed at injuring the boarding house residents. This incident seems to be linked to the Siregar family. Police have questioned over 30 people. We are still investigating the case," he said.

Of the five people who were injured and received medical treatment at Tebet Hospital, one of them, identified as Leonardo, fled after being treated.

"We are also searching for this Leonardo," Sofjan said.

The other people injured were Haris Sulaiman, Simson Saragih, Agus Mulyana and Manasir Sirait.

Police sources said that, while Amri ran the boarding house, a couple named Darmono and Mimin attended to the needs of residents. Following the blast, Mimin, who was in the final stages of pregnancy, went into shock.

"We cannot question her yet. Upon reaching the police station she was already complaining of severe labor pains so we rushed her to the National Police Kramat Jati Hospital where she gave birth to a healthy baby," the source said.

A local resident, Diah, 44, who lives about 200 meters from the blast site, said that she had been sound asleep before being awakened by three loud bangs, one after the other.

"That shocked me so much. I kept on holding my nose because the smell was so awful, like something was burning. I also told my children, who were awakened, to immediately cover their noses with their hands," Diah told reporters at the scene.

Meanwhile, Siti, 25, who also lives in the vicinity of the blast site, said that, while people living in the neighborhood knew one another, residents of the boarding house never mingled with local residents.

"We know that security personnel live in that boarding house, even a police officer," Siti said.

Another local resident, Warso, 56, said that he often wondered why the boarding house was always open.

"Anybody could enter that place. The doors were always open," Warso said. (ylt)