At Least Three Killed, 10 Injured in Central Jakarta Blast

A huge explosion tore into the front of the residence of the Philippine ambassador in central Jakarta Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 10 others, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Parts of a body were strewn on the ground in front of the residence, an AFP reporter said.

"At least three people were killed in the explosion." Edi Supriyadi, an official of the Jakarta municipal municipality told reporters at the scene.

People in the area at the time of the blast said it appeared to have been triggered by a car bomb, an AFP reporter said.

An official who declined to be named at the central Ciptomangkusubroto hospital said more than 10 people had been admitted there from the blast.

Embassy officials who had rushed to the scene said they had no idea how many were killed, but a neighbour said one security guard was dead, and the driver of the car, which was burning outside the gate, was also killed.

A huge cloud of black smoke could be seen rising from the car just after the blast, at around 12: 30p.m. (0530 GMT).The reporter saw two severely injured people being carried from the residence, the front of which was destroyed by the blast. The balcony of a neighbouring house was also destroyed.

The blast also threw metal shards and debris up to 60 metres (yards) away in front of the two-storey building, located on a main avenue some 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the official residence of Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Neigbours told AFP that the dead man was a man minding a small street kiosk just next to residence.

"I saw at least four badly wounded people, I do not know whether they were dead or alive," said Saefuddin, a witness who was near the site of the blast when it took place and was among the first to arrive there after the explosion.

The blast broke every window in the building and blew roof tiles off neighbouring houses across the two-lane avenue.

Last month a bomb exploded in the attorney general's office complex in Jakarta, but caused no injuries.

Indonesia has been facing a series of insurgency crises across its vast boundaries, most notably in the Aceh and Maluku regions.

Five of the country's top political figures were meeting in the central Javan town of Yogyakarta Tuesday in a bid to tackle some of the problems.





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