Posted on 05/28/2005 6:03:25 PM PDT by Cornpone
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's president has ordered police to find those behind two bomb blasts that killed 22 people in a Christian town, and said he would cut short an overseas trip if authorities could not handle the situation.
Quoted by the official Antara news agency after arriving in Hanoi late on Saturday, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would not speculate on who carried out the attacks in Tentena.
Tentena is part of an eastern region where three years of Muslim-Christian fighting killed 2,000 people until a peace deal was agreed in late 2001. Periodic unrest has flared since, but Saturday's attacks on a crowded market were among the worst and could raise fears sectarian strife will reignite.
"I have spoken to the vice president and the chief security minister. If this problem cannot be dealt with, I will return to the country," Yudhoyono said.
"I have instructed the authorities to catch the perpetrators."
Yudhoyono had just touched down after visiting the United States. From Vietnam, the former general will travel to Japan.
One of the aims of his trip is to convince foreign investors that Indonesia is a safe and easier place to do business, after years of ineffective government and occasional major bombings by Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group linked to al Qaeda.
No officials have blamed Jemaah Islamiah for the attacks in the picturesque lakeside town on Sulawesi island, 1,500 km (900 miles) northeast of Jakarta. Members of the shadowy network took part in the 1999-2001 bloodshed.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters late on Saturday that the death toll from the bombings had risen to 22. More than 30 people were wounded.
Police have said the two bombs exploded 15 minutes apart.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. But in some eastern parts, Christian and Muslim populations are about equal in size.
Tentena lies 40 km (25 miles) to the south of Poso, where much of the 1999-2001 violence was focused.
Saturday's blasts follow Western government warnings about terrorist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
On Thursday, the United States closed all its four diplomatic missions in Indonesia because of a security threat.
Yudhoyono said he did not see any connection to that decision and the bombings, Antara reported.
Attacks against Western targets blamed on Jemaah Islamiah include blasts at Bali nightclubs in October 2002 that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, and one last September outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed 10.
Besides the Poso region, the Moluccas islands further to the east was also scene of vicious communal fighting between Muslims and Christians from 1999 to 2002 that left more than 5,000 dead. A peace agreement was reached there in early 2002.
Isn't that a given?
I bet they get less than 20 years...
The ACLU is sending 100 tons of panties to Indonesia Prisons to help with interrogation. Panties are said by the ACLU to work wonders on getting information. ACLU says it beats a chain saw any day. Saddam did not agree with the panties position and preferred tree chippers for humans.
Without the international pressure that accompanied the investigation of the bombing in Bali, would anyone have been caught. In this situation, many in the Intelligence and Military are likely involved and there is going to be zilch long term pressure as so many of the NGO's like Amnisty International are blatently pro Islam, the bombers are home free. Three more people were killed in South Thailand yesterday, bringing the total to 680, but the Muslim killers there can just slip into Melaysia if things get uncomfortable. However, let one Koran get soiled and all hell breaks loose.
Good question. I checked out the Jakarta Times today and there wasn't a word about the bombings. Indonesia is going into the toilet where the Qur'an belongs.
Ping...
We're facing a 14th century culture engaged in a war against us.
Please... Or do you support the idea of Mexican troops storming the US border to rescue drug trafficers from OUR prisons? As a resident of Bali a good part of the year, I absolutely want drug trafficing dealt with so that there is no misunderstanding about its seriousness. Since you have nothing at stake, why don't you focus your cares closer to your home.
There may even be some drug trafficers in your own home state you could try to bust out of jail.
Will this story be above or below the fold on the front page of the NYT? </sarc >
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