Suspected World War II bomb explodes in Indonesia, killing 5 people

A suspected shell left over from World War II exploded under a stilt house in an Indonesian fishing village, killing five people and wounding nearly 20, police said Monday.

The blast in Indonesia’s restive eastern Papua region startled locals with a thunderous boom on Sunday afternoon, emitting a ball of flames followed by a thick smoke column, according to footage broadcast on Kompas TV.

Nine homes were destroyed.

“The source of the explosion is strongly suspected to have been a bomb or mortar left over from World War II,” Papua police spokesman Cahyo Sukarnito told AFP.

Three people are still recorded as missing, but Cahyo said several body parts have yet to be identified.

At least 19 people were treated for minor injuries, he added.

“We will provide further updates once the search for victims and the investigation have been completed,” said Cahyo.

Last year, nine civilians were among 13 people killed in West Java province when an explosion occurred as Indonesian troops attempted to dispose of rejected munitions by detonating them in a pit.

Indonesia was a major battle zone during World War II when Japanese forces occupied what was then the Dutch East Indies, and Allied forces fought to retake control.

Bombs left over from the war have been found around the globe in recent years, and some of them have exploded.

In March, an unexploded World War II bomb was successfully defused in the German city of Dresden after thousands of residents were evacuated.

Last October, two men were hospitalized in Poland after a World War II artillery shell that one of them had found in a forest and brought back home exploded.

In March 2025, a World War II bomb was found near the tracks of Paris’ Gare du Nord station. The month before that, more than 170 bombs were found near a children’s playground in northern England.

In 2024, an unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights.

In 2023, a World War II bomb that was found in England exploded in what authorities called an “unplanned” detonation.