At least 60 Christians were wounded when bombs exploded during morning services at two churches in Jakarta on Sunday 22 July.

"I was praying and it suddenly exploded," said one Christian woman. "It turned very dark, I was crawling on the floor asking for help. I was screaming. I collapsed." Just as the minister was about to begin the sermon in her church the bomb exploded. Part of the roof collapsed and the windows shattered filling the church with thick smoke and raining down glass on the 800 Christians present. Two members of the congregation had legs blown off in the explosion.

Minutes later a second bomb exploded outside another church in Jakarta as worshippers were leaving the service. Thankfully no one was killed in either blast.

The bombings came in the midst of political turmoil in Jakarta. Indonesia's parliament unanimously voted to sack beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid and replace him with Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Monday 23 July. Police are reported to have said that the explosions were linked to these events.

Seventeen Christians were killed and 120 wounded when bombs exploded in more than a dozen churches in nine cities across Indonesia on Christmas Eve last year. Three men have been sentenced to either eight or nine years in prison for their part in the blasts.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia's Moluccas islands thousands of Christians have been slaughtered by Islamic extremists in religious violence since 1999.