Two bombs exploded yesterday in a busy market on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing 20 people and wounding 40 others in the worst attack in the country since the October 2002 Bali bombings.
Police in Jakarta said the attack bore hallmarks of Islamic militants behind a string of other atrocities in Indonesia, including the Bali blasts in which 202 mainly Western tourists died.
The latest bombs detonated within minutes of each other in the centre of the Christian-dominated town of Tentena in the island's Central Sulawesi province, which has been a flashpoint of sectarian violence in recent years.
The second explosion struck outside a police station as people rushed to help those hit by the first blast near a bank 15 minutes earlier. A Christian cleric and an infant were among those killed.
"The first bomb was placed to attract the crowd's attention so that they would gather in the area and become the target of the second bomb," said First Inspector Adam, a policeman on duty in the nearby city of Poso.
Witnesses say the explosions punched out the windows of surrounding buildings and scattered shards of metal that left a police officer among the wounded.
National police spokesman Anang Budiharjo said no foreigners were hurt in yesterday's attack but the nature of the incident suggested the hand of Azahari Husin, a fugitive bombmaker allegedly allied to the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a Southeast Asian extremist organisation which authorities say has connections with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
"I'm not saying at the moment that this is the work of Azahari's group. However, since he has been at large for so long it is possible that he has recruited new members in that area," Budiharjo said.
"We do not rule out that possibility because the patterns, the use of bombs, are the trademarks of that group," he said.
National police chief Da'i Bachtiar earlier this week said Azahari was suspected to be behind a series of bomb threats to oil firms on the island of Borneo, to the west of Sulawesi.
Police fears over a potential bombing similar to one last year which killed 11 people at Australia's embassy on Thursday prompted the US to shutter its diplomatic missions across the world's largest Muslim country.
Azahari is wanted in connection with the embassy bombing, the Bali bombings and a car bombing that killed 12 people at Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel.
Roadblocks were set up around Tentena, 2,000km northeast of Jakarta as police began investigating the blast.
A medic at the town's main hospital told reporters they were struggling to deal with the casualties due to limited supplies and a shortage of trained staff.
"We need blood bags and medicine because many of the wounded are losing blood and need immediate attention," he said.
The bombing is the most serious single incident in Sulawesi since fighting broke out between Muslims and Christians in December 2001, leaving 1,000 people dead before the government brokered a peace deal in December 2001.
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