International
Violence rocks Sulawesi
By Amit Baruah
SINGAPORE: Blasts rocked four churches in the troubled Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi as one person was killed in a separate grenade attack in Jakarta on Tuesday. Reports from Indonesia said that at least one person was wounded in the blasts in the four churches. Three of the blasts happened simultaneously; as the New Year sounded. A police spokesman said that they did not believe that the blasts in Jakarta and Sulawesi were related. ``Up until now we do not believe the incidents are related. But we know that there are groups out there that want to disrupt the country's calm,'' the spokesman was quoted as saying. The blasts are serious as they follow bomb attacks across Indonesia over Christmas last year. Nineteen persons were killed in a series of 18 bomb blasts on Christmas Eve last year. The current attacks indicate that inter- religious and inter-ethnic tensions in the area are far from being a settled issue in Sulawesi despite a ``peace accord'' agreed to between Christian and Muslim organisations about two weeks ago. The law and order in the area remains a cause for concern as the blasts in the churches indicate.
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