Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java | Mon, 03/01/2010 1:39 PM
The local police office is still probing the discovery of a handmade bomb, suspected to be aimed at the Sultanate family.
The bomb was found Saturday, planted at the Great Mosque, which is designated as an Islamic and cultural heritage site.
Police personnel were seen on Sunday guarding the mosque, the oldest in West Java, which was built in 1489 during the era of Sunan Hunung Jati, one of the religious leaders who disseminated Islam in Java.
The finding caused panic among thousands of members in a congregation held to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad. The location is part of the palace of the Kasepuhan Sultanate.
Cirebon police chief adj. snr. Comr. Ary Laksamana said the bomb was packed with a black plastic bag, found by two Mosque officials.
The package was placed at the Krapyak ward, which is exclusively reserved for Sultan Kasepuhan and the palace kinfolk.
The package was spotted on Friday at 3 p.m.
"Initially, the mosque officials were not suspicious. They thought the package belonged to a visitor who was saying prayers," Ary said.
"They became concerned the next morning when the package was still there," he said.
"On examination, they found the bag contained a circuit of cords, broken glasses, battery and gasoline. They reported the finding to us."
A anti-bomb police squad arrived to carry out the examination, which later revealed that the package contained three bags.
Ary said the first bag held gasoline, a timer and two small firecrackers.
"The timer and firecrackers were connected to two 9-volt batteries with circuit of cords," he said.
The second bag was to hold 50 thumb-sized firecrackers with the third containing fragments of sharp glass.
"Seen from those elements, the hand-made bomb had the potential to trigger an explosion, which could burn the mosque and injure people," Ary said, categorizing the finding as low explosives.
When found, the cords were already disjoined.
"We suppose the disjoining caused the bomb to fail to explode."
The police office has deployed a detective team to uncover the motives of the bomb planting.
"We are still investigating the motives behind it," Ary said.
"One thing for sure, the perpetrators must have been skilled at making a bomb."
Visitors to the mosque now have to go through a tight police check.
Prince Arief Natadiningrat condemned the bomb planting and suspected the bomb had been directed at the Sultanate family as well as visitors.
"The perpetrators are uncivilized. The explosion would have victimized visitors and damaged the historic mosque."
The prince said the bomb had threatened Sultan Sepuh Maulana Pakuningrat XIII and created panic among visitors.
Arief said he left it to the authority to uncover the motives and appealed to public to remain calm.
