Indonesia: Peaceful Muslims bomb church on Palm Sunday, wounding at least 14 people

[duluxe]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...ch-suicide-bomber-jad-terrorism-jolo-14511620

Indonesia church suicide bomber was member of pro-Islamic State group behind Jolo attack: Police


JAKARTA: One of two suicide bombers who attacked an Indonesian cathedral on Sunday (Mar 28) belonged to a pro-Islamic State extremist group blamed for other church bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines, said police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo.

“The perpetrator was part of the JAD group that had carried out the bombing in Jolo, the Philippines,” said the police chief, referring to extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.


The bomb used in Sunday's attack was a pressure cooker bomb, Prabowo said.

Prabowo also said that four others linked to the group have been arrested in Bima, a city on the island of Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province West Nusa Tenggara.

The attack on Sunday morning killed two suspected bombers and wounded around 20 people, including some church staff members and worshippers attending mass at the time of the bombing.


The country's chief security minister on Sunday evening also confirmed that the attack was a suicide bombing, the first official confirmation by authorities.

"A suicide bombing occurred at the cathedral church in Makassar," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD told reporters in the capital Jakarta. "The two (bombers) died."

The minister said he has ordered the police and military to increase security in places of worship throughout the country.


He also urged people to be patient as authorities work to uncover the network behind the attack.

A video obtained by The Associated Press showed body parts scattered near a burning motorbike at the gates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.



Indonesian Red Cross personnel carry a body bag following an explosion outside a Catholic church in Makassar, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia on Mar 28, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)




FIRST BATCH OF CHURCHGOERS WERE LEAVING CHURCH

Rev Wilhelmus Tulak, a priest at the church, said he had just finished celebrating Palm Sunday Mass when a loud bang shocked his congregation. He said the blast went off at about 10.30am as a first batch of churchgoers was walking out of the church and another group was coming in.

He said security guards at the church were suspicious of two men on a motorcycle who wanted to enter the building and when they went to confront them, one of the men detonated his explosives.

Police later said both attackers were killed instantly and evidence collected at the scene indicated one of the two was a woman.

Prabowo did not give names or say how they were identified. It was not clear if the pair were a married couple.



Police officers walk past the site of an explosion at the gate of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Mar 28, 2021. (Photo: AP/Yusuf Wahil)


At the end of Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, which opened Holy Week ceremonies at the Vatican, Pope Francis invited prayers for the victims of violence. He cited in particular “those of the attack that took place this morning in Indonesia, in front of the Cathedral of Makassar".’

Churches have been targeted in the past by extremists in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation and home to several religious minorities including Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he "strongly condemned this act of terror".

"Terrorism is a crime against humanity," he said.

"I call on everyone to fight against terror and radicalism, which go against religious values."

Amnesty International said the bombing showed "complete contempt" for human rights.

JAD is an extremist group responsible for a string of attacks, including suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya in 2018.

A dozen people were killed in that attack after a family of suicide bombers driving motorbikes blew themselves up at churches during Sunday services in Surabaya.

The family - including two daughters aged nine and 12 - and another family of five, which carried out a suicide bombing on a police headquarters, all belonged to the same Koran study group. They were also linked to JAD, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

An Indonesian militant and his wife - members of JAD - were also blamed for two explosions that ripped through a Catholic church on the Philippines' Muslim-majority island of Jolo in 2019, killing worshippers at Sunday mass and security forces.

Two other militants linked to that attack were shot dead by Indonesian security forces earlier this year.

 

[syed putra]

Those who do not use their common sense will suffer in the next life. Or maybe these two, a couple, did it for evonomic reasons. With promise of money to be given to their children.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Indonesia church suicide bombers were newly weds who learnt bomb making online
Police officers stand guard near a church where an explosion went off in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sunday, March 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Yusuf Wahil)

By Kiki Siregar
29 Mar 2021 05:40PM (Updated: 29 Mar 2021 05:40PM)
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JAKARTA: The two suspected suicide bombers who attacked a Catholic church in Makassar, Indonesia were husband and wife who received online training on bomb making, authorities said on Monday (Mar 29).
Speaking at the scene of the attack, the head of the Indonesian National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) Commissioner General Boy Rafli Amar said they have uncovered the identity of the suspects.

“They are husband and wife," he said, adding that the pair were millennials with one of them being born in 1995.
National police spokesman Inspector General Argo Yuwono in Jakarta said that the couple got married six months ago.
Both were employees in the private sector, he added. “The investigations are still ongoing, including to uncover other suspects,” said the spokesman.
READ: About 20 injured after suspected suicide bombing at Indonesian church

On Sunday morning, two suspected suicide bombers arrived at a Catholic church in Makassar on a motorcycle.
They tried to enter the cathedral but a security officer stopped them. This was followed by an explosion shortly after.
The two suspects were killed and about 20 people were injured. As of Monday afternoon, 15 people remained in hospital while the rest have been discharged.
ONLINE TRAINING ON BOMB ASSEMBLY

Officials have announced that the suicide bombers are members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah extremist network which is often referred to as JAD.
The perpetrators were also part of a JAD group that had carried out a previous bombing in Jolo, the Philippines, said the police, adding that Sunday’s attack used a pressure cooker bomb.
Responding to a query about how the suicide bombers assembled the bomb, Commissioner General Amar of the BNPT on Monday said they had received online training.
"There is information related to online training on social media developed by them. So they developed the procedure for making explosives, and have some senior sources who were trained abroad,” he said.
Meanwhile, national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the suspected suicide bombers were wed by a JAD member who was arrested in January. The couple also left a will.
Following Sunday's bombing, the police arrested four people who belonged to the same study group as the alleged bombers.
"They are in a study group named Vila Mutiara, where each plays the role to spread doctrine, plan for jihad, and also play a role in buying materials to be used as tools for suicide bombings," said the police chief.
The police have also arrested four people in Jakarta and Bekasi, on the outskirts of the capital. Five bombs that were ready to be used and as well as ingredients to make bombs were discovered, he said.
Another person was arrested in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara province on Monday.
Source: CNA/ks

 

[laksaboy]

The two suspected suicide bombers who attacked a Catholic church in Makassar, Indonesia were husband and wife who received online training on bomb making, authorities said on Monday (Mar 29).

So if the husband gets 72 virgins, what happens to the wife?

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Report: Malaysian, Indonesian IS supporters call for more violence after terror attack in Makassar | Malay Mail

Armed police officers stand guard along a closed road following an explosion outside a Catholic church in Makassar, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia March 28, 2021 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. — Antara Foto/Arnas Padda via Reuters
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KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Indonesian and Malaysian supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group called on Monday for further attacks in Indonesia following a bombing in Makassar, Indonesia, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
According to the news report, the calls on social media platforms were made following an attack which involved a newlywed couple, who carried out a suicide bombing at a cathedral in South Sulawesi on Sunday, during what is considered a holy period for Christians and Muslims — a week before Easter, and in the run-up to the month of Ramadan.
Analysts including Muh Taufiqurrohman, senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Radicalism and Deradicalisation Studies (Pakar), said through its monitoring of closed groups on social media, it found that the calls came from online groups in Indonesia and one from Malaysia.
“They also called for more powerful bombs to be used,” he said.
The police have since arrested eight suspects with links to the couple, and found a cache of explosives and bomb-making materials in Jakarta.
According to the police, the Indonesian couple — who were married six months ago — were the only casualties in the Makassar city bombing that left 20 people wounded and was attributed to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), the largest IS-linked group in the country.
The couple, police said, both were members of the group, were killed instantly after they rode a motorcycle into the church compound and detonated a bomb packed with nails after being challenged by security.
The authorities added that a suicide note left by the husband was found read that he was ready to die a martyr, while local media on Tuesday reported that the woman was four months pregnant.
As reported in the news, JAD, which has thousands of sympathisers and supporters in the country, has been behind all major terror attacks in Indonesia over the past five years — with police personnel and non-Muslims as the main targets.
“Police are targeted as they are considered to be an obstacle [to the cause], while non-Muslims are targeted because militants are convinced that is an order from God,” said Nasir Abas, the former leader of al-Qaeda’s Southeast Asia branch, Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
According to Nasir, these attacks are expected to continue, as they are rooted in a 2015 call by late IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who urged his followers to carry out attacks wherever they were in the world.
Al-Baghdadi was killed in 2019 when he detonated a suicide vest during a raid by United States special forces in Northern Syria.
He added that as JAD has been affiliated with IS since its early days, it is committed to carrying out [Baghdadi’s] call until today.
“(The militants) will not stop until a caliphate is established (in Indonesia),” he said.
Nasir, who was once known as Southeast Asia’s most-wanted terrorist, said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had made a similar call in 1998 to 1999 when he urged his followers to kill civilians from the US and its allied countries.
However, Nasir said while some members of JI agreed to carry out that call, some did not, including himself.
Nasir left the group in 2003 as he disagreed with its shift to violent jihad.
He was arrested that year and released in 2004, and has since been helping the Indonesian government with deradicalisation efforts.
JI was behind Indonesia’s deadliest attack, the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, including 11 Hong Kong residents. Nasir was not involved in the attack.
Following the attack in Makassar, four men were arrested in Jakarta, though the authorities later confirmed they were not linked to the Sunday bombing.
According to national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the raid in the capital also turned up 5.5kg of powerful explosives — including triacetone triperoxide, which is often used by IS — as well as five active pipe bombs.
Nasir said the discovery of these bombs meant that they have plans to conduct further attacks.
Also seized during the Jakarta raids were uniforms with the initials “FPI”, which stands for the Islamic Defenders Front, an extremist group that was banned in January.
On Tuesday, the police arrested three women with links to the Makassar attack, Densus88 had arrested 94 terror suspects since the start of the year, while five other suspects believed to have links to the attackers were arrested on Sunday and Monday in Bima city, West Nusa Tenggara province, according to national police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan who spoke to local reporters.
With the latest arrests, PAKAR estimates there are currently 70 JAD members in Makassar, indicating that terror attacks are likely to continue in the city.
“Their preferred method of attacks is bombings, rather stabbing, as we can see with what happened in the past,” he said, adding that the group’s members were likely to choose bombs as they cause “more casualties and create headlines”.

 

[syed putra]

Report: Malaysian, Indonesian IS supporters call for more violence after terror attack in Makassar | Malay Mail

I am glad i am not in anynway associated to this group. The more religious they become, the further away they stray from the straight path. As it was not meant to be a religion, but evolved into one.