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Southeast Asia
Bomb explodes at Hindu temple on Indonesian island
2006-03-10
POSO, Indonesia - A small bomb exploded Friday outside a Hindu temple on an Indonesian island that has been plagued by religious violence, seriously wounding a man who was guarding the compound, police said. The blast on the outskirts of Poso, a coastal town on Sulawesi island, was caused by a low-intensity bomb that was placed in the home of the temple’s guard, said Poso’s deputy police chief, Maj. Andreas Wayan. It detonated when the 40-year-old man, Nengah Sugiarta, opened the door, causing the roof and wooden walls to collapse, he said. “Whoever did this wanted to create panic and spread terror here in Poso,” Wayan said, adding that police found black powder, nails, shrapnel and a battery at the scene, indicating the bomb was homemade.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered around the temple after the blast, which riddled SugiartaÂ’s legs and waist with shrapnel and wood. The Hindu man, who has been the templeÂ’s guard for 15 years, was taken to a nearby hospital.

Some 3,000 security personnel have been deployed to the region - where Muslim-Christian clashes in 2001-2002 left more than 1,000 dead - following a resurgence of violence several months ago. Most of the victims in the latest attacks, including market bombings and the beheadings of three school girls, have been Christian. Wayan said it was too early to say who was behind FridayÂ’s attack - the first to target Hindus in Poso, a city 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northeast of Jakarta.

Police questioned three residents who were near the temple at the time of the blast, he said, providing no other details.

Though nearly 90 percent of IndonesiaÂ’s 210 million people are Muslim, PosoÂ’s population has an almost equal number of Christians and also a small number of Hindus, most of whom arrived from the island of Bali in the last three decades.
The government moved thousands of Hindus to Sulawesi and other islands after the 1963 eruption of the Agung volcano, one of the most powerful in the 20th century, devastated dozens of villages on the mountainside in eastern Bali.

A local Hindu leader, I Wayan Sumariasa, condemned Friday’s explosion and questioned the motive, saying his community had good relations with Muslims and Christians living nearby. “I don’t understand why our temple became the target ,” he said. “We don’t know who would have done this.”
Posted by:Steve

#5  "Whoever did this wanted to create panic and spread terror here in Poso"

With insight like that and he's only Deputy Police chief?
Posted by: DepotGuy   2006-03-10 14:31  

#4  Damn, that's a surprise. First, years of ongoing murdering of Christians on this outlying island. Then, BOOM ! A Hindu temple just up and explodes.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat   2006-03-10 10:47  

#3  What is this, International Piss Off the Hindus week or something?
Posted by: mojo   2006-03-10 10:34  

#2  This is a perfect example of why I want Islam outlawed and banned from the earth. These are all the same nationality. People living and playing together throughout the centuries. But enter the caveman religion of blood, Islam, and now they bomb. Next, will be rape, kidnapping, murder, more bombing, and dhimmitude.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-03-10 09:43  

#1  Wayan said it was too early to say who was behind FridayÂ’s attack

Hint: they were at prayers listening to an imam telling them to enslave the unbelievers.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-03-10 09:28  

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