Priest stabber ‘obsessed with ISIL leader’

‘I love Al Baghdadi’ found written on attacker’s rucksack

MEDAN // An Indonesian teenager who stabbed a priest in a church and tried to set off a homemade bomb was obsessed with the leader of ISIL, a minister said yesterday.

The 17-year-old tried to set off a crude, low-grade explosive on Sunday as the Roman Catholic priest held mass in a packed church in Medan on the island of Sumatra, and then stabbed him with a knife.

The explosives, which authorities compared to a firework, did not detonate properly and only gave off smoke, while the priest sustained minor injuries to his arm.

The congregation tackled the attacker after he ran at Father Albert Pandiangan and knifed him, stopping the teenager before he could do any more harm.

“From the mobile phone confiscated by authorities, this kid is obsessed with Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi from ISIL,” security minister Wiranto said. A string of recent attacks and attempted attacks in Indonesia had been blamed on the influence of ISIL.

Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said the words “I love Al Baghdadi” were also found written on the attacker’s backpack, although officials do not believe he had joined any terror network.

A search of his rented room turned up copper cables, gunpowder and lightbulbs, materials that could be used to assemble simple bombs.

The backpack he carried during the attack contained cut up sections of pipe packed with gunpowder. The devices were not capable of producing a serious explosion, said Wiranto.

A witness said the assailant was seen fiddling in his bag, after which a small explosion was heard before he ran towards the priest.

In January, ISIL claimed a suicide bombing and gun attack in the Indonesian capital that killed four attackers and four civilians. Last month an ISILlinked suicide bomber attacked a police station on Java island, slightly injuring an officer.