Sulawesi bombs, an attempt to reignite sectarian hatred
Makassar (AsiaNews) Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla is fully convinced that the Tentena bombing was done by hard-line terrorists from Java who "had nothing to do with local religious communities".
The two bombs that exploded on Saturday, May 28, in Tentena's market, 60 km from Poso (Central Sulawesi), killed 22 people. Reverend Deni, 37, a Protestant clergyman from the Central Sulawesi Church Synod, was among the victims.
Speaking to the press at his home in Makassar (capital of South Sulawesi province), Vice-President Kalla reiterated his conviction that the Tentena attack was the work of "terrorist groups from Java".
"They left Java and started operating in Poso," he said, "and made Tentena their safe haven".
"I am fully convinced that this is not a conflict between Christians and Muslims because the two parties had fully agreed to stop the violence when they signed the Malino peace agreement," Kalla explained. "They also agreed that hard-line terrorists should be regarded as their 'common public enemy'. Tentena's terrorists may be the same group who carried out the same bloody attack in Ambon, Poso, and Mamasa in West Sulawesi," he added.
Kalla ordered police and the military to bring the terrorists to justice.
Sulawesi Military Commander Major General Suprapto agreed with the Vice-President as to who might be behind the attack, adding that it "is likely an attempt to destroy the inter-religious truce and provoke further clashes between Christians and Muslims".
National Police spokesman General Anang Buiardjo said the attacks were most likely ordered by terrorists Azahari and Noordin Moh Top.
The Tentena bombing is the fourth in six months in the Poso area. The first took place on November 13, 2004, in a central market and killed six people. The second struck Poso's Alamanda Hotel in early 2005, destroying some sections of the building. The third destroyed two buildings that were home to local NGOs on April 24.
The wave of terrorist attacks in Indonesia is having some international repercussions as well. Several countries, including those of Japan and the United Kingdom, shut down their embassies on May 26 and stopped all consular activities because of the "recent terrorist threats".
The US did the same the day before after a detailed map of its Jakarta embassy appeared on a website.
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