Suicide church bombings kill at least 7 in Indonesia
Six family members that carried out attacks dead, another 41 others injured
SURABAYA, INDONESIA— Co-ordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesia’s second-largest city Sunday, police said, as the world’s most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.
At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, according to police. Another 41 people were injured. Indonesian President Joko Widodo condemned the attacks as “barbaric.”
National police chief Tito Kar- navian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives. Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently Daesh, also known as ISIS, controlled significant territory.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It didn’t mention anything about families or children taking part and said there were only three attackers.
Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. But the fact that children were involved in Sunday’s attacks in Surabaya shocked and angered the country.
Experts on militant networks have warned for several years that the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who travelled to Syria to join Daesh posed a threat if they returned home.
Karnavian identified the father as Dita Futrianto and said he was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with Daesh that has been implicated in attacks in Indonesia in the past year. He identified the mother as Puji Kuswati.
The attacks occurred within minutes of each other, according to Surabaya police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera.
The church attacks came days after police ended a hostagetaking by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention centre near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. Daesh claimed responsibility.