INDONESIA: FIVE PEOPLE INJURED AFTER POWERFUL BOMB EXPLODES AT BOARDING HOUSE IN JAKARTA /POLICE USE TEAR GAS TO DISPERSE PROTESTTING STUDENTS
Record ID:
358551
INDONESIA: FIVE PEOPLE INJURED AFTER POWERFUL BOMB EXPLODES AT BOARDING HOUSE IN JAKARTA /POLICE USE TEAR GAS TO DISPERSE PROTESTTING STUDENTS
- Title: INDONESIA: FIVE PEOPLE INJURED AFTER POWERFUL BOMB EXPLODES AT BOARDING HOUSE IN JAKARTA /POLICE USE TEAR GAS TO DISPERSE PROTESTTING STUDENTS
- Date: 19th June 2001
- Summary: (W3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JUNE 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV: EXTERIOR OF DAMAGED BOARDING HOUSE 0.05 2. SV: POLICE STANDING OUTSIDE HOUSE 0.10 3. VARIOUS OF DESTROYED PARTS OF HOUSE / CLOSEUP OF RUBBLE (2 SHOTS) 0.19 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) NEIGHBOUR, SUMARIYOTO, SAYING "All of a sudden, I heard two explosions and the ro
- Embargoed: 4th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA82JRGGRC752RD64EYZM5KD6AC
- Story Text: A powerful bomb exploded at a boarding-house in the
Indonesian capital Jakarta, seriously wounding five people,
and police later found several more unexploded devices in the
building.
Indonesian police have fired tear gas to disperse 100
students protesting in Jakarta over fuel price hikes and
injuries sustained by their classmates in a clash with
security forces the previous day.
The blast destroyed much of the two-storey building in
a south Jakarta suburb around dawn on Tuesday (June 19) and
also damaged homes nearby in the latest bomb explosion to hit
the capital.
Police said the blast was caused by a high explosive bomb.
Several unexploded bombs in a room next to the one where
the exploded bomb was planted were also found.
The five wounded people have been taken to hospital.
Police had questioned 29 people, including residents of
the boarding house, but they had yet to name any suspects.
A series of bomb blasts has rocked Jakarta and other
cities across the troubled archipelago in the past year,
adding to the headaches facing the beleaguered administration
of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The spate of largely unresolved bomb blasts has
underscored Indonesia's stumbling efforts to pull itself out
of more than three years of crisis. Police also often report
finds of
unexploded home-made bombs and fake devices in public places.
Residents said Tuesday's explosion triggered panic in the
usually quiet neighbourhood. One resident said he heard two
blasts, although police have only reported one.
"All of a sudden, I heard two explosions and the roof of
my house fell right on my bed. I went outside right away with
my grandchild and see the whole roof of the house has
collapsed," said neighbour Sumariyoto.
Witnesses said around 20 students and workers lived in the
boarding-house.
Two people were killed in Jakarta in May when a bomb
destroyed a dormitory housing students from the restive
province of Aceh. Police have said the dormitory might have
been used as a makeshift bomb factory.
Meanwhile, several students were arrested following the
clash near a university in central Jakarta on Tuesday after
students threw rocks at riot police.
The students later took shelter on the campus grounds.
Police, however, combed areas outside the complex as they
fired tear gas into the campus.
There was no report of casualties.
On Monday (June 18), police fired warning shots and tear
gas at more than 700 students in one protest in Jakarta over
the fuel price hikes. A dozen students were hurt in that clash.
The government raised fuel prices by 30 percent last week,
a measure that prompted bus drivers across the country to go
on strike. Local authorities have since caved in to demands
for fare increases, prompting most services to run normally on
Tuesday.
Raising fuel prices has always been politically risky in
Indonesia, and helped bring about the downfall of former
President Suharto in 1998.
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