14 Killed by Bomb Blasts at Churches in Indonesia

Bombs exploded outside churches in Jakarta and five other Indonesian cities and towns on Christmas Eve, killing at least 14 people, injuring dozens and worsening the already difficult relations between Muslims and Christians throughout the fractured archipelago.

The blasts--including one outside Jakarta’s main Roman Catholic church, near the presidential palace and the main mosque--occurred as prayer services were about to get underway Sunday night. The explosions set cars ablaze and damaged some churches.

President Abdurrahman Wahid today asked Christians not to be provoked and blamed the attacks on forces intent on “destabilizing the government.”

“There is an effort to use the name of Islam to destroy Christians or to use the name of Christianity to destroy Muslims,” Wahid said, vowing to press forward with democratic reforms.

A total of about 20 bombs exploded, said National Police Chief Gen. S. Bimantoro.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but religious violence and tensions have been rising throughout this predominantly Muslim country.

“This is an act of terror against Christians on Christmas Eve,” said Police Senior Inspector Supono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Wahid, himself a Muslim scholar, has advocated religious tolerance, but Sunday’s attacks added to a long list of crises and acts of violence that have worsened during his 14-month rule.

Five Catholic and Protestant churches were targeted in Jakarta, where three people were killed. The Jakarta bombs exploded within an hour and a radius of about a mile.

An unexploded bomb was also discovered near the Catholic cathedral, where hundreds of Christians were arriving ahead of midnight Mass as thousands of Muslims were leaving the nearby mosque at the end of Islamic evening prayers.

Other churches were evacuated after receiving threats.

There were four explosions outside one church in the exclusive Jakarta suburb of Menteng, police said.

In eastern Jakarta, a man was killed in an explosion at a bus stop outside a church and an adjacent Christian school, Supono said.

Four of the dead Sunday were police officers who tried to disarm a bomb in Pekanbaru on Sumatra island, the official Antara news agency said. One civilian was also killed there.

Antara reported blasts outside churches in Medan on Sumatra island. Police there later found nine unexploded bombs.

Two people were killed in a blast at a Christian-owned house in Bandung in the west of Java, Indonesia’s main island, police said.

On Batam island, not far from neighboring Singapore, three blasts injured 22 people, Antara said. Explosions rocked three churches in the town of Mojokerto in eastern Java. Bombs also went off near three churches in Mataram on the tourist island of Lombok.