INDONESIA: Suicide bomber attacks a police compound in Java's Cirebon leaving at least 20 injured

Record ID: 357275

  • Title: INDONESIA: Suicide bomber attacks a police compound in Java's Cirebon leaving at least 20 injured
  • Date: 16th April 2011
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (APRIL 15, 2011) (REUTERS) INDONESIA SECURITY AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY SIGN JOURNALISTS MINISTERS OF SECURITY AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) DJOKO SUYANTO, COORDINATOR MINISTER OF SECURITY AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS, SAYING: "The bomb was brought by someone and it exploded inside a mosque in a police compound in Cirebon." JO
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia, Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8OBOIIQJPDMCBVTQ96HSNRQJS
  • Story Text: A suicide bomber set off explosives in a police compound in Indonesia on Friday (April 15) wounding at least 20 police officers, the most serious incident in a recent spate of attacks by Islamist militants, Metro TV reported.
    "The bomb was brought by someone and it exploded inside a mosque in a police compound in Cirebon," said Djoko Suyanto, Coordinator Minister of Security and Political Affairs.
    Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has been the scene of some major attacks by militants linked to al Qaeda over the past 10 years but there have been few big attacks recently.
    "The president has ordered his staff to find people who are responsible for this," said Suyanto after a meeting with related Ministers.
    The bombing came during Friday prayers at a mosque in the police compound in the town of Cirebon, about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the capital, Jakarta. The bomber was killed.
    Police have said that militants in Indonesia have recently changed tactics and were now going after government and law enforcement officials as well as Western targets.
    Members of Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit were on their way to the scene to investigate, a source from the unit told Reuters.
    The head of Indonesia's National Counter-Terrorism Agency, Ansyaad Mbai, told Reuters in a recent interview that militants were using parcel bombs and targeting minorities to try to push an Islamist agenda and warned that more attacks were likely.
    Militant attacks and incidents of religious intolerance have risen in recent months, with mobs lynching three followers of a minority Islamic sect and torching two churches on Java island.
    Parcel bombs have been sent to people involved in promoting pluralism and counter-terrorism in Jakarta.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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