WW II bomb explodes, kills eight in Maluku

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.