2016-08-29 11:44:00

Failed terrorist attempt on Indonesian Catholic Church


A would-be suicide bomber's explosives failed to detonate in a packed Catholic church in western Indonesia during Sunday Mass, and he injured a priest with an axe before being restrained, police said.  During Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, 17-year-old Ivan Armadi Hasugian left his bench and ran toward the priest at the altar, but a bomb in his backpack only burned without exploding, said national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar.  Before he was restrained by members of the congregation, the man managed to take an axe from the backpack and attacked the celebrant Fr. Albert Pandiangan, causing a slight injury to the 60-year-old priest's hand, Amar said. 

"From the cellphone that was seized by security forces, this youth was obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Chief Security Minister Wiranto told reporters, referring to the leader of the Islamic State (IS), the Middle Eastern militant group.   Police were interrogating the man, who told them he was not working alone, Amar said, without providing details.

Indonesian authorities are increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, driven in part by a new generation of jihadis inspired by Islamic State (IS).    They say vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of the religion.  The country suffered its first IS-linked attack in January, when four people died in a gun and bomb assault.  








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.