Indonesia Police Arrest 17 for Bombings
Saturday, June 04, 2005
- Share:
POSO, Indonesia — Indonesian police said Saturday they have arrested 17 suspects in last weekend's bombings in a Christian town that killed 20 people.
None of the 17 — including the head of a local prison, three prisoners and an Islamic junior high school master — have been formally charged over the twin blasts at a bustling market in Tentena (search), Central Sulawesi.
Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi (search), chief of Central Sulawesi police, said two more suspects are being sought. The 17 arrested included the two who carried out the bombings in Tentena, he said.
"As of today, we have arrested 17 suspects and now we are still hunting two others," Sutadi said Saturday. "Based on their confessions, the two ... were the executor of the bombings. They are suspected to have planted the bombs at the Tentena market."
Central Sulawesi (search) was the scene of a bloody war between Christians and Muslims in 2001-2002 that killed around 1,000 people from both communities.
Saturday's market bombings were the deadliest terror attack in Indonesia since Oct. 12, 2002, when 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, were killed in Bali bomb blasts blamed on the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
The United States and Australia have warned their citizens to avoid traveling to Indonesia.
- Share:
