Indonesia raids find explosives related to church attack – TV

Indonesian police found explosives on Monday, March 29, in a raid outside the capital city Jakarta related to Sunday’s suicide attack on a cathedral on Sulawesi island, news channel Kompas TV reported.

Raids were conducted in several places in response to the attack in the city of Makassar, Kompas reported.

The two bombers were the only fatalities in the incident, which wounded 19 people and took place as mass was finishing on the first day of the Easter Holy Week.

Jakarta police declined to comment on reports of the raids and national police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Police on Sunday said the bombers were a man and a woman who belonged to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Islamic State-inspired militant group suspected of suicide attacks on churches and a police post that killed at least 30 people in the city of Surabaya in 2018.

Four suspected JAD members were arrested on Sunday in the province of West Nusa Tengara related to the cathedral attack that same day.

About 20 suspected JAD members were arrested in January and authorities believe the group was involved in the twin suicide attack on a Philippine church in 2019 that killed more than 20 people.

Makassar, the biggest city on Sulawesi island, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, which is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and has a substantial Christian minority, among other faiths. – Rappler.com