Rush hour attack
Suspect dies from wounds after being shot in rush hour attack
Suspected IS-inspired militant stabs three Indonesian police.
JAKARTA: A suspected supporter of Islamic State (IS) stabbed and wounded three Indonesian police in what appeared to be the latest instance of violence inspired by the militant group in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.
The man also threw a pipe bomb which failed to explode during the rush hour attack in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, police said.
He was shot and died from his wounds, a police spokesman said, while the three victims were being treated in hospital.
A second pipe bomb and a large IS sticker were found at the scene, police said.
Indonesian authorities are increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism in South-East Asia’s largest economy, driven in part by a new generation of militants inspired by IS.
“Two of (the police) were stabbed in the arm and chest.
“Then the attacker walked around showing off his weapon, walked to the police post,” Mohammad Isa Ansori, deputy police chief of Tangerang district, said.
The attacker, who was born in 1994 and unemployed, was believed to be a member of the Indonesian militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which supports IS.
The umbrella organisation, formed last year through an alliance of splinter groups backing Islamic State, is led by jailed cleric Aman Abdurrahman, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence for aiding a militant training camp.
Yesterday’s assault comes after a series of IS-linked attacks beginning in January when four militants mounted a gun and bomb attack in Jakarta.
Eight people were killed, including the militants.
In July, a militant blew himself up at a police station in the town of Solo, injuring one officer.
Police in August arrested IS supporters plotting to launch a rocket at Singapore’s Marina Bay casino resort area using a boat from the nearby Indonesian island of Batam.
The vast majority of Indonesia’s 250 million people practise a moderate form of Islam.
Small militant groups that have periodically mounted attacks against the state and foreigners have been largely disbanded or driven underground.
In Indonesia’s most serious attack, militants set off explosives at a nightclub on Bali island in 2002 killing 202 people.
Authorities believe IS has more than 1,200 followers in Indonesia and nearly 400 Indonesians have left to join the group in Syria.
Police are on the alert in case more Indonesians return home after Iraqi forces this week launched an offensive to take back the IS stronghold of Mosul.
Authorities are monitoring about 40 returnees, concerned they could be linking up with existing networks, police chief Tito Karnavian said on Monday. — Reuters