At least six people have been killed in three seemingly coordinated suicide bombings that hit churches in the second-largest city of Indonesia. Dozens of people have been injured.
Images in the local media show debris and bodies on the ground in the city of Surabaya on the Island of Java, as police cordon off the blast areas. “The victims are still being identified,” said East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera. Police say they have also secured a fourth, unexploded bomb at a church.
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The authorities said that the attacks were carried out by a local terrorist group linked to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL). A spokesman for the country’s intelligence agency said that Jemaah Ansharut Daulah was behind the blasts. The group has pledged allegiance to ISIS mastermind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The bombings are likely linked to a deadly riot in a high-security jail in Jakarta, which led to the death of five police officers and one inmate on Thursday, said Wawan Purwanto, the communication director at the intelligence agency, as reported by Metro TV. The failed prison break was claimed by IS, but authorities did not believe it was involved.
The three blasts hit on Sunday morning, within 10 minutes of each other, police said. Police have only provided details on one attack so far, which took place at Santa Maria Catholic Church.
“We have confirmed one died at the scene, one died at the hospital, two police officers were injured and there are some civilians injured,” Mangera said. “In total 13 people are being treated at the hospital.”
The perpetrator of the blast and a churchgoer were among the deceased at Santa Maria Church, The Jakarta Globe reported, citing police.
Two other explosions rocked the Protestant Indonesian Christian Church in Jalan Diponegoro and a Pentecostal church. Pentecostalism is a renewed movement within mainline Protestant Christianity.
AFP reported that the death toll from the triple bombing has risen to six people, with at least 35 injured, according to police. It’s unclear whether it includes the perpetrators of the attacks.
Christians constitute some 10 percent of the population of Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. There have been a number of extremist attacks on religious minorities in the country in recent years.
No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s bombings so far.
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