Bomb damages church in Poso

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso

A bomb believed to be homemade exploded Saturday night at a church in the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso, but no casualties were reported.

The explosion the Eklesia Church on Jl. Pulau Seram at Gebang Rejo village was heard about three kilometers away, but caused no major physical damage to the building. The church was still under renovation after being burned during religious violence that hit the regency several years ago.

Local people who had been waiting for the start of the World Cup soccer match between England and Portugal flocked to the scene of the explosion.

Security officers immediately went to the site to erect police lines and begin the investigation. The growing crowd dispersed after being asked to leave.

Insp. Gen. Paulus Purwoko, chief of the Central Sulawesi Security Operation Command (Koopskam), said on Sunday that preliminary investigation results suggested a homemade bomb had been used.

"It was caused by an explosive which had no metal casing. It caused a loud explosion but would not hurt anybody due to the absence of metal particles," he said.

Police will continue investigating by collecting debris from the blast, he added.

Security forces in the city have been on high alert since 2005 following a spate of attacks targeting Christians. The renewed violence has included bombings at marketplaces and the beheadings of three schoolgirls.

Although the vast majority of Indonesia's 220 million residents are Muslim, a large percentage of central Sulawesi's population is Christian.

There were fierce battles between members of the two faiths in 2001 and 2002 that killed about 1,000 people. Poso was the center of the violence.

Darwis Waru, head of the Poso Conflict Resolution center, said it had become a kind of habit that whenever security officers were withdrawn from an area, bomb blasts, shootings, murders and kidnappings followed.

"We predicted there would be a new incident because Koopskam is ending its duties. So we're not shocked. It's become normal for us in Poso," Darwis said.

One day earlier a construction worker found 26 active bullets in the ceiling of a motorcycle dealership in Poso.