Bomb Blast in Jakarta

By Kenneth Conboy

A small bomb exploded on a tabletop in an A&W restaurant in East Jakarta at 1145 local time. Although details are still sketchy, it appears that the bomber, 36 year old Muhammad Nur, was the only casualty. Though injured, Nur survived the blast and is now in police custody. He reportedly had Quranic verses in his shirt pocket, though it is still not known if he intended to be a suicide bomber, or if he wanted to flee the scene but the bomb went off prematurely. A second suspect escaped and is still on the run.

The blast is curious for several reasons:

* The device was apparently far smaller than all recent Jemaah Islamiyah bombs, which may indicate it was not connected to the same JI figures who coordinated the earlier incidents.
* If the bomber did not intend to commit suicide, it would again be different from recent JI attacks.
* The targeted restaurant was in a low-class mall frequently virtually entirely by Indonesian Muslims. Again, this would set the attack apart from previous JI bombings that targeted Western nationals and/or ethnic Chinese Indonesians.

Even if not connected to JI, the police are operating under the assumption that the bombing may be linked to the upcoming 20 November visit to Indonesia by President Bush. Over the past week, numerous Muslim radicals have either taken to the streets or vowed to stage protests when Bush arrives.

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