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Bombs shake 5 Indonesian churches; at least one dead

Bombs shake 5 Indonesian churches; at least one dead

Author: Geoff Spencer
Publication: The Associated Press
Date: December 24, 2000

A series of bombs exploded Sunday outside five churches during Christmas Eve celebrations in Indonesia's capital, police said.  At least one man was killed and 16 others injured.

Details were sketchy, and no group immediately took responsibility, police said.  But religious violence and tensions have been rising recently throughout this predominantly Muslim country, and Muslim vigilante groups have recently attacked restaurants and nightclubs in Jakarta, the capital.

"This is an act of terror against Christians on Christmas Eve," said police Senior Inspector Supono, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

The blasts in Jakarta took place within a few minutes of each another and within a radius of about a mile.  None of the churches was damaged.

Privately owned Metro Television reported several bombs also blew up near churches in the city of Medan on Sumatra island as well as on the island of Batam, not far from neighboring Singapore.  Two blasts were also reported in the town of Mojokerto in east Java, Indonesia's main island.

Five churches were targeted in the capital.  One bomb, thought to be planted in a parked car, blew up near the city's Roman Catholic Cathedral, located close to the main mosque and presidential palace.

An unexploded bomb was also located near the cathedral, where hundreds of Christians were arriving for midnight Mass and as thousands of Muslims were leaving the mosque at the end of Islamic evening prayers.

Police said there were four explosions outside one church in the exclusive suburb of Menteng.

A man was killed in an explosion at a bus stop outside a church and an adjacent Christian school in east Jakarta, Supono said.

The explosions injured at least 16 people and damaged more than a dozen cars, police said.

Christmas Eve services were taking place in some of the targeted churches at the time.  The celebrations were coinciding with the final days of Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ends on Tuesday night.

Christians make up less than 5 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people, most of whom are Muslims.  Many of Indonesia's Christians are members of the ethnic Chinese minority, which has been targeted by Muslim groups in past outbreaks of civil unrest.

Tensions between Muslims and Christians have been increasing in recent months throughout the Indonesian archipelago.

The heaviest violence has been in the Moluccan or Maluku islands in Indonesia's east, where an estimated 5,000 people of both faiths have been killed in two years of sectarian violence.

Sunday's bombings were the latest in a series to rock the capital.  The worst this year came in September, when a car bomb and subsequent fire killed 15 people in a basement parking lot at Jakarta's Stock Exchange.  In August, two people were killed when a car bomb blew up outside the Philippine ambassador's home.

Authorities made arrests after those attacks and several smaller explosions, but have filed no formal charges.  Most suspects have been released.
 


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