Indonesian priest hurt in failed terror attack

MEDAN — An axe-wielding man injured a Catholic priest and tried to set off an explosive device at a church in Indonesia on Sunday (Aug 28), said police, the latest terror attack targeting religious minorities in the mainly Muslim country.

Priest Albert Pandiangan was holding a mass in the city of Medan on the western island of Sumatra about 8am local time when a young man approached him and injured him on the left arm with an axe, said national police spokesman Major General Boy Rafli Amar.

The attacker was carrying a homemade explosive device, according to local chief detective Nur Fallah. 

“Somebody tried to kill the priest by pretending to attend the church service and at that time tried to explode something, like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn’t explode, it only fumed,” Mr Fallah told reporters. 

The priest suffered slight injuries and has been taken to hospital for treatment.  

By 10.20am local time, the church had been evacuated and the police had secured the area. The police had also detonated the perpetrator’s belongings to defuse any possible remaining explosives.

A picture of the ID of the alleged perpetrator, identified as Ivan Armadi Hasugian, 18, later circulated online. He is said to be Muslim. 

In recent years there have been a number of attacks on religious minorities and others in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. 

A suicide attack in the Indonesian capital in January killed four attackers and four civilians, including a Westerner, and injured 19.

In July, a suicide bomber linked to IS blew himself up outside a police station in Central Java. 

Churchgoers on Sunday quickly caught the attacker and called the police.  An eyewitness, Markus Harianto Manullan, said the assailant wore a jacket and carried a bag. 

“He sat in the same row as I did ... I saw him fiddling with something in his jacket, and then I heard a small explosion and he immediately ran to the podium,” said Mr Manullan.  

The motive for the attack at the Roman Catholic Saint Yoseph Church in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, was not clear.

The police have confiscated from the suspect an ID belonging to Hasugian, a piece of paper with the IS symbol drawn on it, a motorcycle and the axe and knife used in the attack, said North Sumatra Police spokesperson Rina Sari Ginting.

The failed suicide bomber is believed to have met a man on the street prior to the event, preliminary investigations have found.

“We are still interrogating the suspect. He said someone he met on the street asked him to launch the attack,” said Medan Police Chief Mardiaz Khusin Dwihananto.

“(Hasugian) confessed he did not know anything about the man’s identity.”

National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT) Chief Commander General Suhardi Alius told Indonesian media the suspect is only a “puppet,” as he is too young to have planned the attack on his own.

“Considering his young age, there has to be someone else who supports him. We are currently digging to seek his identity,” said Gen Suhardi.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has carried out a sustained crackdown on militant networks since the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people. AGENCIES