CHOCO
Dec 5th, 2002, 02:30 PM
Two Dead in Blast at McDonald's in Indonesia
Thu December 5, 2002 10:10 AM ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a McDonald's restaurant in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar Thursday, killing two people, police said.
"There were two blasts, the first at a McDonald's counter in Ratuh Indah mall. Two people died," police officer Rafael Sandy told Reuters by telephone from Makassar on Sulawesi island.
Two people were seriously wounded and several were slightly hurt, he said.
A second explosion, which caused no casualties, occurred about an hour later in a car showroom about three miles away, Sandy said.
The McDonald's explosion came at 6:55 p.m., shortly after the breaking of the Muslim fasting period for Ramadan, when the restaurant was busy.
Police were investigating whether the explosions were caused by bombs, Sandy said.
There have been clashes, including bomb attacks, between Muslims and Christians on parts of Sulawesi island and elsewhere in the sprawling, predominantly Muslim country in recent years.
The blasts came in the midst of an investigation of an October 12 bomb attack on the holiday island of Bali that killed at least 191 people, and which has been blamed on a regional Muslim militant group and the al Qaeda network.
Some bomb blasts in recent years have been blamed on separatist rebels and criminal gangs.
In the wake of the Bali blasts several Western governments warned their citizens about the danger of traveling in the country and the possible targeting of Western interests.
Thu December 5, 2002 10:10 AM ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a McDonald's restaurant in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar Thursday, killing two people, police said.
"There were two blasts, the first at a McDonald's counter in Ratuh Indah mall. Two people died," police officer Rafael Sandy told Reuters by telephone from Makassar on Sulawesi island.
Two people were seriously wounded and several were slightly hurt, he said.
A second explosion, which caused no casualties, occurred about an hour later in a car showroom about three miles away, Sandy said.
The McDonald's explosion came at 6:55 p.m., shortly after the breaking of the Muslim fasting period for Ramadan, when the restaurant was busy.
Police were investigating whether the explosions were caused by bombs, Sandy said.
There have been clashes, including bomb attacks, between Muslims and Christians on parts of Sulawesi island and elsewhere in the sprawling, predominantly Muslim country in recent years.
The blasts came in the midst of an investigation of an October 12 bomb attack on the holiday island of Bali that killed at least 191 people, and which has been blamed on a regional Muslim militant group and the al Qaeda network.
Some bomb blasts in recent years have been blamed on separatist rebels and criminal gangs.
In the wake of the Bali blasts several Western governments warned their citizens about the danger of traveling in the country and the possible targeting of Western interests.