Indonesian police said yesterday they increased security measures in their headquarters across the nation after a suicide bomber blasted himself in a mosque inside a police compound.
A man believed to be in his late 20s to early 30s detonated explosives strapped to his body at a mosque in Cirebon, West Java Province, where many police were performing Friday prayers.
“We’re increasing security in police headquarters across the country regarding people coming in and out, but we are doing this subtly,” Indonesian police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said.
The police said 30 people were injured by the low-level explosion, including Cirebon’s police chief, and the attacker was killed instantly.
“Six people were badly wounded and 24 people who were lightly wounded,” he added.
The police said the body of the bomber had been brought to a police hospital in Jakarta for identification.
“We’re still trying to identify the bomber, find out his background and his link. His age is about 25 to 35 years old,” Alam said.
The Cirebon attack was the first suicide bombing inside a mosque in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
Last month, bombs hidden in hollowed-out books were sent to several addresses including those of liberal Muslim figures and a counter-terrorism official, but no one was killed.
The last significant bombing in Indonesia was carried out by two suicide bombers who killed seven people at two luxurious Jakarta hotels in July 2009.
Islamist preacher Abu Bakar Bashir is currently on trial, facing the death penalty over charges including leading and financing a terror training camp discovered in Aceh last year. Hundreds of suspected militants from the cell in Aceh, which had planned attacks against Westerners, have been arrested or killed.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in