Authorities in Indonesia last week arrested a 19-year-old member of an Islamic extremist group and his parents, foiling a plan to suicide bomb two church sites, officials said.
The highschool student identified only by his initials, H.O.K, was arrested on July 31 at about 7:15 p.m. as he was on his way eliminate evidence in Jalan Langsep, Sisir village, Batu City, in Malang Regency, East Java, said Anti-Terror Special Detachment 88 Spokesperson Aswin Siregar at a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.
The Special Detachment 88 squad and Batu police were involved within the arrest.
“H.O.K. is a supporter of ISIS or Dawlah Islamiyah,” Aswin told reporters on Thursday (Aug. 1) in Jakarta.
Aswin said H.O.K had develop into a member online of Philippines-based Dawlah Islamiyah, said to be affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), and that he and accomplices were planning to perform suicide bombings using Triaceton Triperoxide (TATP) explosives at two Christian churches in Malang Regency, East Java.
TATP, widely often called the “Mother of Satan,” is probably the most powerful and dangerous explosives. Preliminary investigations indicated that H.O.K. often accessed various web sites containing Dawlah Islamiyah propaganda that led him to attempt to perform suicide bombings, Aswin said.
“He accessed various sites containing recommendations or propaganda from Dawlah Islamiyah,” Aswin reportedly said. “Then he also got information from social media, in order that he felt like carrying out the suicide bombing.”
The suspect bought explosives and other mandatory tools for the attack with savings from school allowances, in line with TribunJakarta.com.
H.O.K.’s parents were also arrested on July 31, and police detained several other people for questioning.
“Densus 88 continues to be investigating the potential of his links to other ISIS support networks,” Aswin said. “Indeed, there have been several individuals who were questioned, including his parents or family.”
The parents were arrested from a train, he said.
“The parents of the alleged terrorist were arrested on their technique to Jakarta on a train,” Aswin said. “This also confirms that there have been no explosives or bombs carried by the suspect’s parents.”
His statement corrected a previous, mistaken report that the parents had been arrested of their temporary, rented house in Bunga Tanjung Housing Complex Kav, 34, Jeding Village, Junrejo District, adjoining to Islamic boarding school As Sunnah in Batu City, Malang, East Java.
Aswin said police had arrested one other suspected terrorist in Solo, Central Java, who was on his technique to Jakarta by train.
H.O.K. and his family are residents of Jakarta but have rented a house in Batu twice over the past few years.
The head of the local neighborhood association in Batu, identified only as Yulianto, told tempo.co that the family was secretive, hardly associating with neighbors.
Muslims account for 83.3 percent of Indonesia’s population, while 11.43 percent discover as Christian, with the evangelical population estimated at 3.23 percent, in line with the Joshua Project.
Indonesia ranked 42nd on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian. Indonesian society has adopted a more conservative Islamic character, and churches involved in evangelistic outreach are susceptible to being targeted by Islamic extremist groups, in line with the WWL report.
