Two dead as bomb hits Indonesia's Sulawesi

Two people died and five were wounded when a bomb exploded in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi on Saturday, police and a hospital nurse said. “The information is that two died at the scene,” Iwan, a nurse at the general hospital in Poso town, told AFP. He said three other victims were in a “very critical” condition and two were less seriously hurt. He would not comment on casualties but said police chief Abdi Darma was investigating at the hospital. Local media reported that the bomb exploded in or near a public minibus. Poso and other parts of Central Sulawesi province have seen a series of attacks against Christians this year. A report early this year by the International Crisis Group blamed many of the Christian deaths in Poso on Mujahidin KOMPAK, an outfit with loose affiliations to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional extremist group.Authorities say Jemaah Islamiyah is behind attacks in Indonesia, including the October 2002 Bali bombings, last year’s Jakarta Marriott hotel suicide attack, and a deadly blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last month. Fighting between Christians and Muslims began in 2000 and left more than 1,000 people dead in Central Sulawesi. The government brokered a peace deal in December 2001 but sporadic violence continued.Full Story