JAKARTA, June 19 (Islam Online & News Agencies) - A suspected homemade bomb exploded early Tuesday at a boarding house in South Jakarta, seriously injuring five people.
Police are reportedly now searching for a suspect, most likely the tenant of the room where the explosion occurred, police sources said.
The powerful blast took place early in themorning when most of the university students and workers living in the two-story house were asleep. Much of the roof and some upper walls were blown apart, while nearby homes were also damaged. It appears the explosion may have been accidental, police sources said.
Police is yet to determine the motives of the owner of the bomb, suspected to be Edi Susilo, a tenet who moved into the boarding house only 3 months ago.
The boarding house's owner, Amirudin Siregar, said Edi Susilo went out on Saturday night and has not been seen since then. Police is looking for him to help them in the investigation.
Members of the police bomb squad investigating the scene of the explosion found three homemade bombs in what was left of Edi's room. "We have questioned 28 people over the explosion, and are still searching for Edi," said Jakarta Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Anton Bahrul Alam.
Several hours after the blast, a maid at a nearby house discovered two bombs in a house owned by Simatupang. It was not immediately clear whether Simatupang had any connection with Edi.
Jakarta and several other major cities have been hit by bomb blasts over the past year, in what many observers believe has been a campaign of terror aimed at undermining the troubled government of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Police have failed to satisfactorily resolve most of the bombings.
The most recent fatal explosion took place in May, when a bomb destroyed a Jakarta dormitory housing students from rebellious Aceh province. Police claimed the students may have used the dormitory as a bomb factory.
