2ND LD: Indonesia warns of more bombings at end of Ramadan+

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Jan 1, 2001

JAKARTA, Dec. 25 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING STORY WITH GOV'T WARNING)

The Indonesian government warned Monday of more bombings while religious leaders called for restraint as the approaching end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan portends more religious violence across Indonesia after 15 died in Christmas Eve bomb blasts Sunday.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, social and security affairs, said police intelligence was warning of more ''efforts to launch similar attacks'' on places of worship.

On Wednesday morning Muslims will mark Eid-al-Fitr, the end of their holy month of Ramadan, by conducting prayers in mosques and other public places.

''It is possible that (attacks) will be conducted by the same organization or group,'' Yudhoyono said.

At least 15 people were killed and 69 others injured Sunday evening in a wave of closely timed bombings at churches across the country in what authorities consider to be an organized attack on the country's minority Christians.

National police chief Brig. Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro said that 18 bombs had gone off Sunday, and that police ''found 13 unexploded bombs in the city of Medan and two in Jakarta.''

Yudhoyono said the goal of the bombers was to spark more religious conflict in Indonesia.

Earlier on Monday, before leaving for the troubled easternmost province of Papua to attend Christmas celebration, Indonesian President Abdurahman Wahid said that the bombings were an effort to oust him from his ''fragile'' 14 months in power.

''The bombings were conducted by a group that has run terrorist activities in the past months in an effort to topple my government,'' said Wahid.

Yudhoyono, however, ruled out the involvement of the Indonesian military and religious extremist groups in the blast. ''So far, there has been no indication of their involvement,'' he said.

Meanwhile, religious leaders, NGO activists, the media and some public figures called for calm and restraint.

Mudji Sutrisno, a Catholic priest, warned that the bitter fighting between Muslims and Christians seen in the Maluku Islands, where thousands on both sides have been killed, was in danger of being repeated on a national scale.

''The public should not be provoked by this, which could create a horizontal conflict,'' he said.

In Jakarta, Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais, one of many fierce critics of Wahid, regretted the president's decision to leave Jakarta for more ''unnecessary'' travels.

''The anarchists' acts, an unforceable rule of law, and a government that has slowly lost its dignity, have brought the country to the brink of destruction,'' Rais said.