WW II bomb explodes, kills eight in Maluku

Aziz Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon, Maluku

Eight people were killed when a World War II bomb exploded in the conflict-torn eastern city of Ambon in Maluku province, police said on Thursday.

Maluku Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Suedi said the blast occurred in Hila village, Leihitu subdistrict, Central Maluku regency, on Wednesday evening.

He said the bomb went off at a nearby beach when the victims were trying to cut it open to remove the explosive material to use in bomb fishing.

The bomb had been unearthed from the house of a local resident, Muhammadiah, in Mamuwa hamlet, Bambang added.

"The bomb found by local villagers was dropped from a fighter plane during World War II," he told The Jakarta Post.

The police described the blast as dreadful, saying all the dead victims' heads were blown off and some of the bodies had been blown to pieces.

The dead were identified as Beang Pakuma, 40, Ahmad Soga, 35, La Sitima, 30, La Udin, 30, La Inta, 50, Hama Kasim, 28, La Uju, 38, and La Umar, 30.

A bomb squad from the Maluku Police arrived at the scene to inspect and identify the bomb.

The team found a 30-centimeter sheet of iron at the scene, Bambang said.

The country's northeastern islands have seen a number of deadly explosions from wartime bombs in recent years.

In similar incidents in the past, villagers have attempted to cut through bomb casings to get at the explosives inside.

Shipping lanes around the Maluku islands, which were occupied by the Japanese imperial army in 1942, were heavily attacked by Allied bombers in the closing stages of the war.

Maluku was known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial times.

Residents in other parts of Asia have lost their lives while attempting to dismantle wartime bombs for scrap metal.

During sectarian clashes in recent times between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku islands, divers from both sides scoured the shallow seabeds for downed aircraft and unexploded bombs.

They used the explosives they salvaged to blow up each other as well as churches, mosques and other buildings during three years of sectarian fighting that killed some 6,000 people since early 1999.

Nowadays, explosives from wartime bombs are mainly used for illegal fishing, local police said as quoted by AP.