The deadly spread of terrorism
BOMB attacks on three churches in Surabay, Indonesia’s secondlargest city, seem to have brought a new level of evil to the world.
The level of terroristinspired attacks around the world has continued, almost unabated, as the socalled Islamic State spreads its reach from mass bombings of the past to encouraging lone wolf attacks.
If reports from Indonesia are correct, the weekend killings of 11 people, along with dozens injured, are the first carried out by a woman and her daughters.
A family of six, the husband and wife, and their four children are the perpetrators of the country’s worst attack in more than a decade.
Police say the mother and her two daughters aged 12 and 9, bombed the GKI Diponegoro church. At the same time, the family’s two sons, aged 18 and 16, rode motorcycles to the entrance of the Santa Maria Catholic Church where they detonated their bombs. Their father drove a car bomb into the Surabay Centre Pentecostal Church.
Terrorism analysts say the attack was wellorganised and well coordinated, by far the most deadliest Islamic State supporters have mounted to date.
An expert who has been monitoring the chatter of extremist networks on social media says Indonesian women have been expressing increasing desire to become more involved in violent extremism. Those same networks discussed the woman allegedly involved in the Surabay attacks. If confirmed, it will be the first time a woman has detonated a suicide bomb in Indonesia and will also change the landscape of radical isation in Indonesia, sending the message of opening jihad for all women. The use of her daughters also sends a message to young women they too can add to the terror network in the mainly Muslim country.
There were other attacks foiled in Indonesia on Sunday, again aimed at churches. Four suspected members of a terrorist cell were killed and others arrested.
Islamic State claimed its first attack in the country in 2016 when four civilians were killed in explosions and shootings in the capital Jakarta.
It also claimed others, including in a highsecurity prison which killed five security force members earlier this month.
Indonesia has been widely praised for its antiterrorism crackdown since the first major attack by alQaedalinked militants on Bali in 2002. The rise of Islamic State overseas has invigorated the country’s loosely connected jihadi networks.
Southeast Asia was not the only target of terror at the weekend. French prosecutors have started a terrorism investigation after one person was killed and four injured in a knife attack in a busy area of central Paris.
France has become a target for Islamic State. In the past two years, smaller attacks by Islamist extremists have targeted security forces and, less often, civilians. Earlier, more than 230 people were killed by Islamic State in 2015 and 2016.
The rise in attacks around the world comes as Islamic State has been squeezed out of its Middle East strongholds. The defeat in Syria of the terrorist group was at first thought to have lessened the chances of attacks around the world. Instead, the group has lowered its sights but is still creating deadly chaos and causing fears among travellers.
On Monday, an attack was carried out on the police headquarters in Surabaya. Another family was involved and brought along their 7yearold daughter.
Indonesia is a popular tourist destination for Kiwis and Australians, particularly Bali. It is one of New Zealand’s trading partners. Exports to Indonesia averaged $70.62 million from 2014 until 2017, reaching a high of $111.21 million in May of 2016 and a record low of $38.46 million in June of 2015.
The proximity of Indonesia to Australia, and hence New Zealand, must be kept in mind by security officials in this country before it becomes a matter of national sorrow.