A suicide bomber blew up himself outside a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday killing one people and injuring at least ten people.
According to the reports, on Sunday, the first day of the Easter Holy Week, a suicide bomber detonated himself outside the church in South Sulawesi’s provincial capital Makassar. One person died during the blast at the gate of the church compound. Five church staffers and four worshippers were injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
The congregation was being held inside the church on the island of Sulawesi at the time of the explosion, said South Sulawesi police spokesman E Zulpan. The officer said that the bombing was high explosive and there was no significant damage to the church.
Priest Wilhelmus Tulak said he heard a “very loud explosion” at around 10.30 am on Sunday after a second mass finished. He had that suspected bomber who attempted to enter the church grounds on a motorbike but was stopped by a security guard. Ten people have been seriously injured in total, some of them seriously, he said.
Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, said the attack was a “cruel incident” as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday. He urged people to be calm and trust the authorities.
Police suspects IS-inspired group behind church blasts
The CCTV camera footage showed that the blast resulted in flame, smoke and debris flying into the middle of the road.
Meanwhile, the police have secured the area around the church and a disaster victim identification team is investigating the incident.
No particular group has claimed responsibility for the apparent attack. However, Police suspect that Islamic State-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), that carried out suicide attacks in 2018 on churches and a police post in the city of Surabaya that killed over 30 people, may have been behind the church blast.
Sri Lanka Easter bombing
In April 2019, on Easter Sunday, a series of as many as eight blasts at multiple churches and luxury hotels by Islamist terrorists left 267 dead and more injured. All eight bombers were Sri Lankan citizens and part of National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a local Islamist group with suspected foreign ties.
