Suspected suicide bombing hits Indonesian church in Makassar
- At least 14 people were wounded in the attack on the first day of the Easter Holy Week
- President Joko Widodo described the attack as terrorism, and urged people to remain calm
Two suspected suicide bombers attacked a Catholic Church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday, wounding 14 people on the first day of the Easter Holy Week, officials said.
The congregation was concluding their mass inside the church on the island of Sulawesi when the attackers detonated at least one device outside, police said. The two suspects were the only fatalities.
Authorities were looking into which radical networks the bombers came from and whether the attack was linked to recent arrests of suspected militants, national police spokesman Argo Yuwono said.
In January, a counterterrorism unit raided a militant hideout in Makassar and killed two men suspected by police of involvement in twin bombings at a Philippine church in 2019 that killed more than 20 people.
Jokowi, as the president is widely known, urged people to remain calm and said everybody could worship “without fear”.
Father Wilhemus Tulak, a priest at the church, told Indonesian media that a suspected bomber tried to enter the church grounds on a motorbike, but had been stopped by a security guard.
Security camera footage showed a blast that blew flame, smoke and debris into the middle of the road.
“They want to show that they still exist and use this to propagate their group and recruit new members,” he said.
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“Whatever the motive is, this act isn’t justified by any religion because it harms not just one person but others, too,” Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s religious affairs minister, said in a statement.
Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, described the attack as a “cruel incident” as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, and urged people to remain calm and trust the authorities.
Indonesia’s deadliest Islamist militant attack took place on the tourist island of Bali in 2002, when bombers killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
In subsequent years, security forces in Indonesia scored some major successes in tackling militancy, but more recently there has been a resurgence of militant violence.