2005 Palu Market Bombing

On the morning of 31 December 2005, an improvised explosive device detonated at approximately 7:00–7:05 a.m. inside a partially enclosed butcher's market in the Maesa subdistrict of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The market, located opposite the Bethel Church, sold pig and dog meat, both forbidden under Islamic custom, and was frequented mostly by members of the Christian Minahasa ethnic group who were shopping ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations. The blast killed eight people and wounded 53 others. Police described the device as home-made and low-explosive, packed with nails and ball bearings, which caused most victims to suffer limb injuries from shrapnel. A second explosive device was reportedly found roughly four metres from the initial blast site, near a stall selling pork, and was subsequently defused.

Bystanders carried the wounded from the market to a nearby road and placed them in passing vehicles to be transported to local hospitals, where at least 20 shoppers were treated for serious injuries. Victims identified in reporting include stall owners Bambang Wiyono Saputra (50), Yakulina Tana (45), and Agustina Mande (37), as well as Yoppie (42) and his wife Meisye (39), and Sgt. Tasman Lahansang, a member of the Intelligence Unit of the Tadulako District Army Command.

The attack occurred against the backdrop of prior sectarian violence between Christian and Muslim factions in Central Sulawesi, concentrated largely in the Poso region, which had claimed more than a thousand lives between 1998 and 2002; Palu itself had largely been spared such violence until this bombing. Then Indonesian Security Minister Widodo Adisucipto suggested that the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah may have been responsible, linking the attack to the death of Azahari Husin, who was killed in an ambush at Batu, East Java, on 9 November 2005.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denounced the bombing and offered condolences to victims' families. Authorities established roadblocks in the Palu region, and a team from the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) was deployed to assist the local investigation. A single person was detained in connection with the bombing, according to provincial police chief Oegroseno, though it was unclear whether he was considered a direct suspect; police stated only that he had been acting suspiciously and had been asking vendors where they lived.

Convicted terrorist financier Eko Budi Wardoyo has been suspected of involvement in the Palu market bombing due to his role in the 2004 murder of Reverend Susianti Tinulele during an attack on a South Palu church, and his connection to the 2005 Tentena market bombings, which killed 22 people. Wardoyo was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2010 for financing the church attack and assisting those responsible for the Tentena bombings. In 2008, another bomb was discovered near street vendors close to Palu Plaza during the Idul Fitri festival and was safely detonated by the local Palu bomb squad.