Bomb causes chaos in Indonesia

A bomb exploded in Indonesia’s religiously divided province of Maluku today, injuring as many as 53 people, police said.

The blast happened at about 9am (3am Irish time) at a market packed with shoppers in a Christian neighbourhood of Ambon - which is divided between warring Christian and Muslim sides - witnesses said.

Ambon is the provincial capital of the Malukus, 1,600 miles east of Jakarta, which has been wracked by three years of sectarian fighting that has left 9,000 dead.

A Christian activist, Frans, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said he was inside his house when he heard the explosion. He said he looked outside to see glass, blood and people lying in the street.

"Suddenly there was boom, boom. The house was shaking," he said.

"I saw some people lying on the street, and there was blood everywhere. I am not sure how many people were there. But I saw two of them badly injured and lifted into an ambulance."

Police Sgt. Ketut Purwato said 53 people were injured.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast and no one has been arrested, he said.

The explosion is the latest in a series of violent incidents that is testing the strength of a peace deal signed in February between the two communities.

The truce had succeeded in stemming much of the sectarian fighting however there have been occasional outbreaks of violence since then.

"The situation was very much improving and mutual trust between Muslims and Christians was building up," said Cornelius Bohm, a Christian pastor in Ambon.

"This is a terrible setback."

In April, masked men attacked a village on the outskirts of Ambon and killed 12 Christians.