Suicide bomber targets Mass in Indonesia, 14 wounded

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a packed Roman Catholic cathedral on Indonesias Sulawesi island during a Palm Sunday Mass wounding at least nin14 people police saidA cellular video obtained by The Associated Press showed body parts scattered near a burning motorbike at the gates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar the capital of South Sulawesi provinceThe attack came as Indonesia was on high alert following the arrest of Aris Sumarsono known as Zulkarnaen the leader of Jemmaah Islamiyah in DecemberWilhelmus Tulak a Catholic priest who led the Mass when the bomb exploded at about 1030 am told reporters that a loud bang shocked his congregation who had just finished the Sunday service marking the beginning of the Holy Week before EasterThe first batch of churchgoers was walking out of the church while another group was coming in when the blast happened he saidHe said that security guards suspected two motorists who wanted to enter the church One of them detonated his explosives and died near the gate after being confronted by guards The wounded included four guards and several churchgoersNational Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono told a news conference in the capital Jakarta that police were still trying to identify two attackers on a motorbike who used powerful explosivesHe said that police were investigating whether they were linked to a local affiliate of the banned Jemaah Islamiyah network or were acting independentlyAbout 64 suspects had been detained by Indonesias counterterrorism squad known as Densus 88 in several provinces including 19 last month in Makassar The arrests followed a tipoff about possible attacks against police and places of worshipIndonesia the worlds most populous Muslimmajority nation has been battling militants since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people mostly foreign touristsAttacks aimed at foreigners have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller less deadly strikes targeting the government police and antiterrorism forces and people militants consider as infidelsA court banned Jemaah Islamiyah in 2008 and the group was weakened by a sustained crackdown A new threat has emerged in recent years inspired by the Islamic State groups attacks abroadThe countrys last major attack was in May 2018 when two families carried out suicide bombings in the secondlargest city of Surabaya killing a dozen people including two young girls whose parents had involved them in one of the attacks Police said the father was the leader of a local affiliate of the Islamic State group known as Jemaah Anshorut DaulahThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever