Bomb blast in Christian market rocks Indonesia, 7 killed

Palu, Indonesia – A bomb packed with nails exploded in a crowded Christian market on the New Year’s Eve in Palu, eastern Indonesia, killing at least 7 people and wounding over 50.

The bomb that went off in the early morning came after warnings of militant violence during the Christmas and New Year season in Indonesia. However, Indonesian police see the blast as a possible link to regional tensions, and not international Islamic militancy.

The Christian market that sold pork wore a bloody look as bystanders carried wounded shoppers away from the scene of the blast to the nearest hospital.

Indonesia is predominantly Muslim but its east has large pockets of Christians, to whom pork is not forbidden.

''Suddenly there was a flash of light and a really loud bang,” a wounded pork seller recalled. “I saw many buyers who had lost their legs. We just tried to save ourselves by fleeing the market.''

''It was a homemade bomb. It was full of nails,'' confirmed police spokesman Major–General Paulus Purwoko in Jakarta.

According to the Central Sulawesi police, seven of the 60 people reported injured had died, and that security was being tightened, especially in places of worship.

The official Antara news agency said another bomb had been found and defused near the market in Palu.

''This was done by outside perpetrators to create an unstable situation in Palu,'' Rusdi Masura, mayor of South Palu regency, told Metro television.

Police hunt is on for catching the suspects behind the blast.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has condemned the bombing and has ordered an official investigation.

While a peace accord halted the 1998–2001 bloodshed in Central Sulawesi, violence has erupted sporadically.

In one of the worst incidents, three teenage Christian girls were beheaded near Poso last October. Bombings last May in the Central Sulawesi Christian town of Tentena killed 22 people.

Inter–communal violence has killed thousands in Indonesia since the downfall of longtime autocrat Suharto in 1998.

In recent years, the nation of 220 million people has experienced several major bomb attacks on Western targets as well, mostly blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a group seen as Al Qaeda's Southeast Asian arm.