BANDUNG, Indonesia, Dec 7 (Reuters) – A suspected Islamist militant, angered by Indonesia’s new criminal code, killed one different individual and wounded at the least 10 in a suicide bomb assault at a police station within the metropolis of Bandung on Wednesday, authorities stated.
The suicide bomber was believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State-inspired group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and had beforehand been jailed on terrorism costs, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo instructed a information convention.
The police chief stated the attacker, recognized as Agus Sujatno, was launched in late 2021 and investigators had discovered dozens of paperwork protesting the nation’s controversial new criminal code on the crime scene.
“We found dozens of papers protesting the newly ratified criminal code,” he stated.
Though there are sharia-based provisions within the new criminal code ratified by parliament on Tuesday, Islamist hardliners might have been angered by different articles that might be used to crackdown on the propagation of extremist ideologies, analysts say.
West Java police chief Suntana earlier instructed Metro TV that authorities had discovered a blue bike on the scene, which they believed was utilized by the attacker.
Attached to the bike was a note carrying a message decrying the new criminal code as “an infidel product,” Suntana stated.
Todd Elliott, a senior safety analyst at Concord Consulting in Jakarta, stated it was doubtless the assault had been deliberate for a while and was an ideological rejection of the nation’s new legal guidelines.
[1/13] Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (INAFIS) officers examine following a blast at a district police station, that in response to authorities was a suspected suicide bombing, in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
“While all the attention is on some of these sharia-based provisions in the criminal code and how that is an indication of the spread of conservative Islam in Indonesia, there are also changes in the criminal code that hardliners would not support,” he stated.
“Including outlawing any ideology that goes against the state ideology, Pancasila, and that would also include extremist ideology.”
Video footage from the scene of Wednesday’s assault confirmed smoke rising from the broken police station, with particles n the bottom.
“Suddenly I heard the sound of an explosion… I saw a few police officers come out from the station and they couldn’t walk properly,” Hanes, a 21-year-old avenue vendor who witnessed the explosion instructed Reuters.
Islamist militants have lately carried out assaults on the planet’s largest Muslim-majority nation, together with at church buildings, police stations and venues frequented by foreigners.
Members of JAD have been liable for a collection of suicide church bombings within the metropolis of Surabaya in 2018. Those assaults have been perpetrated by three households, who additionally hooked up suicide vests to their younger kids, and killed at the least 30 individuals.
In 2021, a pair of JAD newlyweds carried out a suicide bomb assault at a cathedral in Makassar, killing solely themselves.
In an effort to crack down on militants, Indonesia created a tricky new anti-terrorism legislation after suicide bombings linked to JAD.
The group, which is now largely splintered, has been considerably weakened by a wave of arrests by the counterterrorism company lately, analysts say.
Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy, Stefanno Sulaiman, Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Kate Lamb; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies, Gerry Doyle & Simon Cameron-Moore
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