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Bomb Blast/Indonesia
-2: Market In Christian Neighborhood
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Dow
Jones Newswires
Saturday July 27, 2:04 PM
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Bomb Blast/Indonesia -2: Market
In Christian Neighborhood
JAKARTA (AP)--A bomb exploded in
Indonesia's strife-torn province of Maluku on Saturday morning,
injuring as many as 27 people and shattering hopes of peace.
The explosion occurred around 9
a.m. at a traditional market packed with shoppers in a Christian
neighborhood of Ambon, the provincial capital and focus of three
years of religious violence that has left 9,000 people dead,
witnesses said.
Frans, who like many Indonesians uses
only one name, said he was inside his house when he heard the
explosion. He looked outside to see shards of glass and blood in
the street.
"Suddenly there was boom,
boom. The house was shaking," he said. "I saw some
people lying on the street, and there was blood everywhere. I am
not sure how many people were there. But I saw two of them badly
injured and lifted to ambulance."
No one took responsibility for the
blast, and there were no arrests.
The blast is expected to set back
efforts to restore peace in the province after masked men attacked
a village on the outskirts of Ambon in April, killing 12
Christians.
"The situation was very much
improving and mutual trust between Muslims and Christians was
building up," said Cornelius Bohm, a Christian pastor in
Ambon. "This is a terrible setback."
The attack came two days after
Jafar Umar Thalib - the leader of the militant Islamic group
Laskar Jihad, which has been blamed for fueling much of the
fighting - was released from a Jakarta jail.
He faces charges of inciting
violence in the province by delivering a speech to thousands of
his followers in March 26 calling for war. He also has called for
them to reject a February peace deal meant to end the fighting
between Muslims and Christians in Maluku.
The attack on the Christian village
took place soon after that speech. No one has been arrested in the
April attack, and Christian leaders suspect that Muslim hardliners
were behind it.
As a result of the April attack,
the provincial government has declared an emergency and banned all
foreigners - including reporters - from the island.
Last week, government officials
said security was improving because some groups - including Laskar
Jihad - were turning in weapons.
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