Indonesian authorities yesterday said an Islamic State (IS)-inspired militant who injured three police officers on Thursday on the outskirts of Jakarta had prepared several pipe bombs and owned live ammunition and weapons.
The attack was the latest in a series of incidents linked to the group in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation this year, as concerns grow over a resurgence in homegrown militancy.
Police found bomb-making materials, live ammunition, and a samurai sword during a search of the suspect’s house, a national police spokesman said.
“He had prepared several of those pipe bombs,” spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told a news conference. “We are now investigating who he has been in communication with.”
The IS yesterday claimed responsibility for the attack through its news agency Amaq.
The attacker, who stabbed three police officers and threw a pipe bomb that failed to detonate, was shot and died of his wounds.
Police confirmed the attacker, Sultan Aziansyah, was a member of Indonesian militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which supports the IS.
The umbrella group, formed last year through an alliance of splinter groups backing the IS, is led by jailed Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence for aiding a militant training camp.
Authorities believe the IS has more than 1,200 followers in Indonesia.
‘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
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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