bomb blast in penang

(pictures taken from sun2surf)
by now of course you would have heard of the bomb blast… er… switch box blast… er… bomb blast that happened outside prangin mall, penang. (yes you would have, because i’m always late.)

well first we read in the paper yesterday saying it was a switch box blast. then later on, in the late afternoon the story was changed to it being a ‘home-made bomb.’ police described the bomb as ‘a crude, small device filled with nail splinters’. the nails were 8 cm (3 in) long, and together with the bomb, which was placed at some flower bush, they also found bullet casings which was capped by a fuse. think of a firecracker. the bullet casing with fuse look like a firecracker.

the blast killed a 47 years old man and injured a 66 years old man.

our dear CM, koh tsu koon, at once issued a public statement calling on the public not to be alarmed and spread rumours that it was a terrorist attack.

the police said that this seemed to be the work of an amateur, up to some mischief. amateur? how does an amateur got hold of bullet casing, ask politics101?

penang CID chief, syed ismail said that the motive for the blast could be due to some business rivalry, and mentioned it being near chinese new year (CNY), they had received reports of threats and extortions . hmm… threats and extortions because of CNY? why should it happens only CNY time? if business rivalry or revenge or any thing of that sort, it would have happen any time.

well i hope the police were right – that this was not the works of some terrorists but then again they shouldn’t be quick to dismiss this off as an amateur work. see, at first they had thought the blast came from the switch box, and later on realised it was a bomb. anyway, koh tsu koon had said that the police are still investigating and they will let us know of the outcome. well, i hope so, i hope everything will be revealed.