Asia-Pacific News
Bomb found in shopping centre in eastern Indonesia town
Sep 30, 2008, 4:20 GMT
Jakarta - A bomb was discovered in a shopping centre Tuesday in the eastern Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi, once the centre of religious conflicts which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, media reports said.
Two boys found the bomb in a clothing store, wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden under the seat of a vendor. A local bomb squad secured the area and detonated the device.
The Jakarta Post quoted Palu district police chief AB Sitinjak as saying the package consisted of cable, detonator, cellphone casing and a light bulb.
He called it an attempt to terrorize the public on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday.
Central Sulawesi province, especially Poso district town and nearby areas, has a long history of religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians. Blood feuds in 2000 and 2001 killed more than 1,000 people.
Although the vast majority of Indonesia's 220 million citizens are Muslim, there are large numbers of Christians in Sulawesi and the nearby province of Maluku.
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