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2018-05-13 Southeast Asia
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Suicide bomb attacks on three churches in Indonesia, at least 3 11 dead, 15 dozens wounded: Police
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[AlAhram] Suicide bombers attacked three churches in Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya on Sunday, killing at least three people and wounding 15 others, police said.
Indonesia is the world's largest Moslem-majority country and has seen a recent resurgence in homegrown militancy.
Police told media the attacks were carried out by "jacket wallahs".
"The victims are still being identified," said Frans Barung Mangera, East Java police front man.
Media reports said at one church, a woman with a younger child and a teenager had just entered the church and was being questioned by security when the bomb went kaboom! .
Television images showed toppled cycle of violences and debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.
Authorities were also investigating whether there was an kaboom at a fourth church.
Police ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya, and a large food festival in the city was cancelled.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.
The bombings come days after Islamist krazed killer prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.
Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy inspired by al Qaeda's attacks on the United States in 2001.
But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.
The most serious incident was in January 2016 when four suicide bombers and button men attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.
Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.
Suicide bombers on motorcycles and including a woman with children targeted Sunday Mass congregations in three churches in Indonesia’s second largest city, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens in one of the worst attacks on the Christian minority, police said.
The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, killing four people, including one or more bombers, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene. He said two police officers were among a total of 41 wounded.
The blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city’s Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.
A senior police official said the bombings were carried out by at least five suicide bombers, including a veiled woman who had two children with her. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.
A witness described the woman with children, saying she was carrying two bags at the Diponegoro church.
“At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard but the woman ignored and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded,” said a civilian guard named Antonius.
“I saw two men riding a motorbike forced their way into the Santa Maria churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack,” said Samsia, who uses a single name. “Soon after that the explosion happened.”
National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto announced that police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasn’t clear if the shootings were connected with the church attacks.
“They have trained in order to attack police,” Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD. The network of about two dozen extremist groups has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year. It pledges allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The latest attacks in predominantly Muslim Indonesia came days after police ended a riot and hostage-taking at a detention center near Jakarta that left six officers and three inmates dead. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.
Christians, many of whom from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people.
| Ramadan approaches when, as I understand it, those who die while jihading go straight to paradise. Yay. |
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Posted by trailing wife 2018-05-13 00:00||
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