Twin blasts kill 19 in Indonesia

Periodic unrest has flared since but Saturday morning’s attack is among the worst. “There are already 19 people dead, that is the information we received from officials at the scene,” Sukirno, deputy police chief for Central Sulawesi, told Reuters.

“The first bomb exploded in front of Tentena market, the second explosion took place 15 minutes later.” He said around 20 people were wounded, including two police officers. Police are investigating what type of bombs were used.

El Shinta radio station said the second explosion was stronger of the two. “The market was packed. It lies in the heart of the town. Victims have been taken to hospital,” a caller told Indonesia’s leading News Radio Station. Much of the past Sulawesi violence focused on the town of Poso, which is about 1,500 km northeast of Jakarta. Picturesque Tentena, famous for its churches and surrounded by clove-covered hills, lies 40 km to the South of Poso.

The Sulawesi conflict drew Muslim militants from groups such as al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, blamed for numerous attacks across Indonesia. Some 85 pc of Indonesia’s 220 million people are Muslim. But in some eastern parts, Christian and Muslim populations are almost equal in size.

The two explosions follow heightened warnings from Western governments about terrorist attacks in the country, although few foreigners venture to Poso due to its history of bloodshed. On Thursday, the US closed all its four diplomatic missions in Indonesia because of a security threat. The Tentena bombings follow an attack by gunmen on a police post in the Moluccas Islands that killed five police this month. —Reuters