Two Dead in Blast at McDonald's in Indonesia

06/12/2002| IslamWeb

There were two blasts, the first at a McDonald's counter in Ratuh Indah mall. Two people died," police officer Rafael Sandy told Reuters by telephone from Makassar on Sulawesi island. Two people were seriously wounded and several were slightly hurt, he said. A second explosion, which caused no casualties, occurred about an hour later in a car showroom about three miles away, Sandy said.

The McDonald's explosion came at 6:55 p.m., shortly after the breaking of the Muslim fasting period for Ramadan, when the restaurant was busy.

Police were investigating whether the explosions were caused by bombs, Sandy said.

There have been clashes, including bomb attacks, between Muslims and Christians on parts of Sulawesi island and elsewhere in the sprawling, predominantly Muslim country in recent years.

The blasts came in the midst of an investigation of an October 12 bomb attack on the holiday island of Bali that killed at least 191 people, and which has been blamed on a regional Muslim militant group and the al Qaeda network.

Some bomb blasts in recent years have been blamed on separatist rebels and criminal gangs.

In the wake of the Bali blasts several Western governments warned their citizens about the danger of traveling in the country and the possible targeting of Western interests

INDONESIA ARRESTS A TOP SUSPECT IN SOUTHEAST TERROR NETWORK

At the same time, a man suspected of being a senior commander in a regional terrorist network, and a leader of the Bali bombing attack, has been arrested, the Indonesian police said on Wednesday.

The arrest of the suspect, Ali Ghufron, better known as Mukhlas, was heralded by diplomats and security officials as a significant step in learning more about the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah, and its links to Al Qaeda.

"It's a big breakthrough, not only into the investigation of the Bali attack, but into shutting down the terrorist network here," a senior Western diplomat said.

PHOTO CAPTION

An explosion ripped through a McDonald's restaurant in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar on December 5, 2002, killing two people, police said. 'There were two blasts, the first at a McDonald's counter in Ratuh Indah mall. Two people died,' police officer Rafael Sandy told Reuters by telephone from Makassar on Sulawesi island. (Reuters Graphi