Two killed, 2 injured in Guntur bomb blast

JAKARTA (JP): A powerful bomb blast ripped through the Acehnese students dormitory in South Jakarta on Thursday afternoon, killing two men instantly and injuring two others.

The blast caused extensive damage to the building, reducing part of the Iskandar Muda Aceh dormitory to rubble.

A Honda Civic sedan belonging to one of the injured men was also damaged in the blast. The car was parked at the back of the Iskandar Muda Aceh dormitory, located on Jl. Tangkuban Perahu, in the Guntur subdistrict of Setiabudi.

Following the blast, the crime scene was immediately cordoned off by the Military Police, whose headquarters are located in Guntur, city military officers and a dozen police officers from the South Jakarta Police.

City police officers arrived 30 minutes after the blast, which occurred at about 4 p.m.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacob, newly installed on Monday, said that one of the two fatalities was identified as Syaeful, reportedly a student. His charred corpse was found among the rubble.

The other, found behind the Honda Civic sedan, is still unidentified.

The injured men were identified as Erwin Abdulrachman, 42, and Hidayatulloh, 36, both Aceh-born businessmen.

The police are questioning 11 men, allegedly Acehnese students, as witnesses, Sofjan told reporters at the scene.

"We are not eliminating any possibilities. They say this house was lived in by students. The fact is, the victims, Erwin and Hidayatulloh, who also lived here, are middle-aged, like the other witnesses. Let us investigate this case."

Sofyan added that police had not come to any conclusion on whether the witnesses were really students, or were of a different profession.

The blast at the dormitory, which had housed 18 people, shocked local residents in the Guntur area. Among the first to arrive at the scene was a local gardener, named Bob.

Bob said that upon reaching the scene, he heard cries of help from the rubble.

"That's where I found Erwin, and his friend. They were trapped up to the waist in the rubble, crying for help. I pulled them out. They were immediately rushed to a nearby medical center," Bob told reporters.

Erwin and Hidayatulloh were then transferred to the National Police Kramat Jati Hospital.

According to Bob, the dormitory had 10 rooms, and housed people who were interested in Acehnese studies.

Police detectives who entered the dormitory said that at least two bedrooms were intact, and a living room.

"We found some documents on Acehnese studies, and several books on Aceh," a South Jakarta police detective who requested anonymity said.

A series of bomb explosions rocked the city last year. In September, the Jakarta Stock Exchange building was bombed, killing 10 people. A number of people were tried for their involvement in the case. In one of the indictments, prosecutors related the case to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Some defendants were also charged with the explosion at the Malaysian Embassy that occurred the following month.

Last Christmas, Jakarta and other cities were also terrorized by bomb blasts, which killed 19 people. The bomb incidents remain a mystery to date.

An hour after the Guntur blast, another explosion shook the Depok area, where a package exploded in a garbage dumpster, outside a house on Jl. Mangga Raya No. 79, in the Perumnas Housing Complex.

No fatalities were reported in the incident.

Depok Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Amhar Azeth said that the package contained tightly bound firecrackers.

He said that Sugihartati, the owner of the house, received the package from an unidentified man, who was about 180 centimeters tall, slim and dark-skinned.

Upon noticing that the package had several layers of wrappings, Sugihartati told her niece, Salma, to open it instead.

"Salma opened the wrappings, and discovered something like a steel casing. Sugihartati immediately contacted the local police," Amhar said.

"Police arrived, saw the package and were immediately suspicious of its contents. Police tossed the package into the garbage dumpster and secured the area. At exactly 5:30 p.m., the package exploded."

Amhar said that police suspected the family had very dangerous enemies, and were still questioning the family over the matter. (ylt)