Jakarta - Two home-made bombs exploded within minutes of each other in the restive Poso district of Indonesia's eastern province of Central Sulawesi, but caused no casualties, police said Sunday. The first bomb exploded in the Mapane area 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, while the second detonated a few minutes later in Kasiguncu neighbourhood, about two kilometres away, said a district police officer.
Antara, Indonesia's state-run news agency, quoted South Sulawesi Police Chief Badrodin Haiti as saying that the explosives were home-made bombs using PVC casing and containing metal shards.
Both bombs were similar and believed to come from a single source, Haiti said, adding that police founded several nails which were suspected to be used in the bombs as shrapnel.
He said no one one was injured in the blasts, the latest to hit Poso district in recent months.
Poso, which lies about 1,800 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, was the centre of conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Central Sulawesi province in 2000 and 2001, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 people.
In late 2001, rival party leaders in Poso signed a government-sponsored peace accord, but tensions remained and violence still frequently occurs.
Although the vast majority of Indonesia's 220 million citizens are Muslim, there are large numbers of Christians in Sulwesi and the nearby province of Maluku.
