Bomb rocks Indonesian parliament

A BOMB rocked Indonesia’s parliament building yesterday, shattering glass and damaging a wall, just days after police arrested nine Islamic militants they said were planning fresh terrorist attacks.

No one was injured in the blast, the latest in a series of small bombings in the world’s most populous Muslim nation since last year’s devastating attacks on Bali island.

The early morning explosion damaged a wall of a building at the complex in central Jakarta and smashed several windows, witnesses said.

Jakarta police chief, Major General Makbul Padmanegara, said officers were investigating the type of explosive used in the blast.

There were no legislators at Parliament, which was on its summer break.

On Friday, police confiscated a huge haul of explosives, detonators and weapons from a bomb-making factory in the central Javanese town of Semarang.

They also announced the arrest of nine suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida linked regional militant group accused in the October 12 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including around 30 Britons.

Officers said the men were planning more terrorist attacks when they were arrested.

Since the Bali blasts, most Western governments have warned their citizens to avoid travel to Indonesia, saying that more bombings were possible.

Indonesia’s stock market fell about 1% on news of yesterday’s bomb, but was still trading in positive territory near the midday break.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

In April, 11 people were injured when a pipe bomb ripped through the domestic departure terminal at Jakarta’s airport. Police accused separatists from the country’s westernmost Aceh province of carrying out that attack.

On May 19, Indonesia launched an all-out military offensive against the Aceh rebels after an internationally meditated cease-fire broke down.

Police have since warned that the insurgents were planning further attacks outside of Aceh, and government officials have taken to calling the rebels “terrorists.”

The rebels have denied planting bombs outside of Aceh, and have accused the security forces of carrying out the attacks to discredit them.