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JAKARTA - Two bomb blasts ripped through a crowded market in the eastern Indonesian town of Tentena on Saturday, killing 20 people in an attack likely to raise fears sectarian bloodshed could again break out in the region.
Tentena, on the island of Sulawesi, is part of an area where three years of Muslim-Christian clashes killed 2000 people until a peace deal was agreed in late 2001. Periodic unrest has flared since, but Saturday morning's attack is among the worst.
"There are already 19 people dead, that is the information we received from officials at the scene," Sukirno, deputy police chief for Central Sulawesi province, told Reuters.
"The first bomb exploded in front of the Tentena market, the second explosion took place about 15 minutes later." He said around 20 people were wounded, including two police officers. Sukirno said police were investigating what type of bombs were used in the attack and how they were detonated. El Shinta radio station said the second explosion was the stronger of the two.
"The market was packed. It lies in the heart of the town. Victims have been taken to hospital," one unidentified caller told the radio station. Much of the past Sulawesi violence focused on Poso, which is about 1500km northeast of Jakarta. Tentena lies 40km to the south of Poso. The conflict drew Muslim militants from groups such as the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian network blamed for numerous bomb attacks across Indonesia.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. However, in some eastern parts, Christian and Muslim populations are about equal in size. The two explosions follow heightened warnings from Western governments about terrorist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation, although few foreigners venture to the Poso region because of its history of bloodshed.
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timogubbens
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It is really awful that this has happened, I was there last August, I went camping with some boys who were from there. I read that there are rumours that Jemaah Islamiyaah is involved. Does anybody know more?
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Maybe the start of a new series of attacks? 
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