(AFP) The separate trials opened today of an Indonesian soldier and four civilians accused of setting off two grenades at the Malaysian embassy compound in Jakarta last year.

All the accused face the death penalty, the maximum punishment for the charges against them of the illegal acquisition and possession of explosives, the prosecutors in the separate courts said.

Prosecutors at an ad-hoc court charged that Ibrahim Hasan, an active member of the army's Kostrad special reserve command, and his co-accused, civilian Iswadi Jamil, had procured the South Korean-made grenades to carry out the bombing.

Both men were guilty under the penal code and the 1951 emergency law on the charges which carry a maximum penalty of death, chief prosecutor Sulaeman Hajarafi told the South Jakarta district court.

In the second trial on the same case, prosecutors filed the same charges against three civilians, M Udin, Saifan and Iwan Setiawan, for their roles in allegedly carrying out the bombing.

Nobody was killed or wounded in the August 2000 blasts, which caused minor damage to several vehicles parked inside the embassy compound.

Both trials were adjourned until April 30.