Shot in hand halts attacker in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A suspected Islamic militant’s frenzied attack on a police station in the Indonesian capital was thwarted by an officer who shot the man in the hand, police said Friday.

Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said the knife and machete-wielding man repeatedly shouted “God is great” as he attacked officers, chasing some through the building and smashing a glass door.

One officer suffered minor injuries on his arm from a machete blow and another shot the attacker’s hand, forcing him to drop the weapon.

Police are a frequent target of attacks by militants in Muslim-majority Indonesia, who see them as representing the power of the secular government that they want replaced by an Islamic state.

Yuwono said the 31-year-old man, identified as Rohandi, arrived at the police station in Jakarta’s north on a motorbike after midnight and tried to attack at least half a dozen officers by throwing his knife and striking out with the machete.

He said the attacker’s house has been searched and counterterrorism police are involved in the investigation.

In May, two weeks after suicide bombings that used children as carriers, Indonesia’s parliament unanimously approved a tougher anti-terrorism law.