PALU (Indonesia), Dec 31: Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a bomb tore through a market stall selling pork in Indonesia’s religiously divided province of Central Sulawesi early on Saturday, police said.
The latest blast to rock the restive area came as security forces across the archipelago nation were on high alert for potential extremist attacks during the New Year period.
Mostly Christian shoppers had thronged the stall to buy pork for New Year’s Eve celebrations later Saturday night, police said.
Workers from the four hospitals where victims were ferried gave individual tolls to AFP that tallied to eight, with the latest victim being a 13-year-old boy who died after massive blood loss. The number of injured in the blast was 48, police said earlier.
Security minister Adisucipto, quoted by Antara news agency after a cabinet meeting in West Java, said the attack was “related to terror networks which have so far been active in Indonesia. “There are groups that aim to create instability. We are trying with maximum effort, along with the national police chief and intelligence chief, to immediately solve this case,” he said.—AFP
