Two attackers targeted a packed Roman Catholic cathedral during a Palm Sunday Mass on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, injuring at least 20 people.
What We Know:
- In the South Sulawesi province’s capital, known as Makassar, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral experienced an attack believed to be carried out by members of a militant network that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group known as the Jemaah Islamiyah.
- Last Sunday, at around 10:30 a.m., a group of churchgoers were walking out of the Catholic church, while others were coming in for the next service marking the beginning of the Holy Week before Easter when the blast occurred. Wilhelmus Tulak, a Catholic priest who was leading the Mass, told reporters that a loud bang shocked his congregation.
- Security guards were questioning two motorists who wanted to enter the church when one of them detonated his explosives and died near the entrance of the church. The incident wounded a number of guards and churchgoers. National Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono said at a news conference about the suicide-bombing that police were still trying to identify the two attackers.
- Roughly 64 suspects have been detained by Indonesia’s counterterrorism squad, known as Densus 88, in several parts across the Muslim-majority country. The apprehensions followed a tipoff about possible attacks against police and places of worship. Indonesia has been on high alert since the arrest of Aris Sumarsono, the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, in December.
This is Indonesia’s first major attack since May of 2018, when two families carried out a number of suicide bombings on churches in the city of Surabaya, killing a dozen people.
