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Blast at Hindu temple in Indonesia

One person was hurt when a low-intensity bomb exploded at a temple in the coastal Sulawesi town.

Updated on: Mar 10, 2006, 11:32:00 IST
None | By , Poso (Indonesia)
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One person was wounded when a homemade bomb exploded at a Hindu temple at the coastal town of Sulawesi.

HT Image
HT Image

The blast was caused by a low-intensity bomb that was placed in the home of the temple's guard, said Poso Deputy Police Chief Major Andreas Wayan.

The device 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 the police found black powder, nails, shrapnel and a battery at the scene, which indicated that the bomb was homemade.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered around the temple after the blast, which seriously wounded Sugiarta, riddling his legs and waist with shrapnel and wood. He was taken to a nearby hospital.

Wayan said it was too early to say who was behind the attack - the first to target Hindus in Poso, a city 1,600 kilometres northeast of Jakarta.

Though nearly 90 per cent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim, Poso's population has an almost equal number of Christians and there are also a small number of Hindus, most of whom arrived from the island of Bali in the last three decades.

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