BANDUNG: At least 13 people, including nine civilians, were killed on Monday when Indonesian troops attempted to dispose of rejected munitions by detonating them in a pit, officials said.

The blast happened in Garut district, West Java province, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the capital.

“While the team was arranging the detonator inside the pit, suddenly an explosion happened, causing 13 people to die,” said army spokesman Wahyu Yudhayana.

He told a press conference that two batches of ammunition had been successfully disposed of before a third attempt went wrong.

Four of the victims were soldiers, he said, adding it was unclear why civilians were in the area at the time. The military said it had used the site multiple times in the past.

“We will conduct a thorough investigation on this incident,” he said. Last year, multiple explosions ripped through a military ammunition warehouse on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Authorities had to evacuate nearby residents to safer areas as fire tore through the storage facility, but there were no casualties reported.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2025