FOURTEEN INJURED IN CHURCH BOMB BLAST IN INDONESIA

Sun 28 March 2021:

Fourteen people sustained injuries in the suicide attack outside a church in eastern Indonesia on Sunday, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing police.

The blast broke out near the gate of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, the capital of the South Sulawesi province, during Sunday mass at 10:28 a.m. local time (02:28 GMT). There were reports of injuries.

Police said two suicide bombers were likely responsible.

The congregation had been inside the church at the time of the explosion, South Sulawesi police spokesman E. Zulpan told Reuters.

“We see that there are victims and parts of human bodies have been torn apart. We do not know yet whether they are from the perpetrator or from the people who were close by,” he said.

Kompas TV broadcast video footage purportedly showing the moment the explosion happened.

A suicide bom at Makassar Cathedral Church, Indonesia. pic.twitter.com/c0aaeBiFR7

— Kessek (@Kessek9) March 28, 2021

Father Wilhemus Tulak, a priest at the church, told local media that the suspected bomber tried to enter the church grounds on a motorbike, but had been stopped by a security guard.

He said some of those wounded were in serious condition.

According to head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Inspector General Argo Yuwono, two people, allegedly the bombers, arrived by motorbike and tried to get into the church.

The blast happened by the church’s side entrance.

There were body parts at the scene but they are yet to be identified.

At least 14 victims suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals immediately.

Urging the public to remain calm and not to rely on information that is not based on official sources, Mohammad Ramdhan Pomanto, the mayor of the Makassar city, said security in the region has been increased and an investigation is underway.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack so far.

The city’s Mayor Danny Pomanto said the blast could have caused far more casualties if it had taken place at the church’s main gate instead of a side entrance.

Makassar is Indonesia’s fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Medan, with a population of 1.5 million.

In 2018, a dozen people were killed when a family of suicide bombers blew themselves up at churches during Sunday services in the second-biggest city Surabaya.