WOMAN SHOT DEAD AFTER POINTING GUN AT POLICE HQ IN INDONESIA

JAKARTA: A woman entered the Indonesian national police headquarters in Jakarta and pointed a gun at several officers before being shot dead by cops, in the latest in a series of suspected militant attacks in the country.

Authorities in Indonesia had earlier imposed a counterterrorism crackdown and were on heightened alert for possible attacks against police personnel and places of worship following a suicide bombing at a Roman Catholic cathedral during Palm Sunday Mass on Sulawesi island, which wounded at least 20 people.

Television video on Wednesday showed an unidentified woman wearing a long black robe and a blue veil walking near a parking area at the police headquarters, heading towards the police chief’s office building.

She pointed a gun at several police officers before being shot dead by other officers.

A bomb squad member approached her body, which was lying in the rain with the gun nearby, and determined there were no dangerous materials in the area before the body was removed. There was no immediate statement from police about the incident.

On Sunday, a recently married couple with suspected militant links used pressure cooker bombs to blow themselves up outside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi island.

The attackers detonated their bombs when they were confronted by guards outside the church.

They were believed to have been members of the Jemaah Anshorut Daulah group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror outfit and carried out a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia.