Police defuse and explode locally assembled bomb

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The bomb squad of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police defused and exploded a locally assembled bomb on Saturday.

The bomb was found by residents near the Citarum Barat River in East Jakarta earlier in the day.

"The bomb squad of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police arrived in the scene at 10.30 a.m. to defuse the bomb and exploded it at 11.10 a.m.," the Head of the Jakarta Police's Public Relations Service, Senior Commissioner Mohammad Iqbal, said on Saturday.

Iqbal said the residents had found the bomb at 09.10 a.m. while cleaning the Citarum riverbed till the depth of 50 to 80 centimeters to hold a palm-tree-climbing contest.

"While cleaning the riverbed the witnesses found a suspicious item wrapped in a black plastic bag," he said.

Iqbal said the police had examined the residue of the exploded bomb and come to the conclusion that it was a locally assembled bomb.

He said the locally assembled bomb comprised of a battery, cable winder, and a small pipe.