Police have expanded their manhunt into more areas of Central Sulawesi province to track down two people believed to be responsible for the market bombing in the predominantly Christian town of Tentena last week that killed 21 people, a senior police officer said on Saturday. "After blockading an island in the Togean island chain, Tojo Una-Una regency, the police are now expanding their investigation into Morowali regency to hunt down the two most wanted suspects," said Sr. Comr. Tatang Somantri, the chief of the police team investigating the case. Tatang said that as of Saturday, the police had named 18 suspects in connection with the bombing. Ten of the 18 are being questioned in Poso regency, while the rest are being questioned at Central Sulawesi Police headquarters, said Tatang. Among the suspects are Has, the head of a penitentiary in Poso regency, whose office is thought to have been used to assemble the bombs used in the attack, said Tatang. The police also are questioning witnesses in the case, said Tatang as quoted by Antara news agency. While 44 witnesses had been questioned as of Wednesday, by Saturday police had completed questioning 32 more witnesses, said Tatang. "Based on the testimony of witnesses, there is the possibility more people will be named as suspects."
The National Police have devoted extraordinary attention to the high-profile case, the worst bombing in terms of the number of victims since the Bali attack three years ago that killed over 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. There are fears the Tentena bombing could lead to a renewal of religious violence in Poso regency, so that the National Police have deployed generals and specialist personnel to assist in the investigation. The motive behind the attack is still sketchy, but some activists and religious leaders believe the bombing was organized in order to draw attention away from a corruption case being investigated in the province.