Indonesia Was Hit With 5 Bombings Within A Day. Here's All You Need To Know
21 people, including the attackers, have died so far.
By Jia Vern Tham — 14 May 2018, 07:29 PM
Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya has been hit by five terror attacks within 24 hours
Three churches, a low-cost apartment, and the city's police headquarters were attacked by suicide bombers on separate occasions. The bombings happened within hours of each other.
To date, the police have alleged that three families were behind the attacks.
1. A family of six attacked three churches in Surabaya on Sunday morning, 13 May
CNN reported that Dita Sopriyanto, a man identified as the father, first drove a van to the Indonesian Christian Church to drop off his wife Puji Kuswat and their daughters, aged nine and 12.
According to Asian Correspondent, they then walked into the courtyard of the church and detonated bombs strapped to their bodies.
After that, Dita drove the bomb-laden van to the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church and detonated the explosives there.
The couple's teenage sons, aged 16 and 18, rode motorcycles into the Santa Maria Catholic Church and set off the explosives on them.
BBC reported that Dita headed a local branch of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an ISIS-affiliated Indonesian militant network.
The church attacks took 14 lives and injured more than 40.
2. On Sunday evening, another family of six reportedly planned an attack in Surabaya before the bomb was set off prematurely in their apartment
The Nation reported the East Java Police as saying that a premature explosion took place at the Wonocolo low-cost apartment in Taman Sidoarjo.
One of the suspects, Anton Febrianto was seen holding a bomb trigger when officers arrived at the scene. He was then gunned down by police officers.
His wife, Puspitasari, and their eldest son were killed by the premature explosion.
The couple's second child took his two younger siblings to the hospital.
Anton and Puspitasari used to make a living by selling cakes.
3. Earlier today, 14 May, motorcyclists were seen driving up to the Surabaya police headquarters before they detonated explosives at the security checkpoint
BBC reported that the attack was carried out by a family of five riding on both motorcycles.
Four attackers on the motorcycles died, while four police officers and six civilians were injured in the attack.
An eight-year-old girl, who was wedged between her parents on one of the motorcycles when the attack happened, was thrown clear and survived.
Asian Correspondent reported Indonesia's President Joko Widodo as pledging that a new anti-terrorism bill will be pushed through following the five attacks
"This is the act of cowards, in-dignified and barbaric," he was quoted as saying by Asian Correspondent.
Widodo will be issuing a regulation in place of a law by next month to force through the anti-terrorism bill if the Indonesian parliament fails to pass it.
According to BBC, Indonesian officials said that police will be increasing security across the country, with the support of military forces.
"There will be no compromise in taking action on the ground to stop terrorism," Widodo added.