BANDUNG: A suspected Islamist militant, angered by Indonesia’s new penal code, killed another person and injured at least 10 in a suicide bomb attack at a police station in the city of Bandung on Wednesday, authorities said .
Suicide bomber reportedly affiliated with IS-inspired Jamaah group Ansharout Daulah and had previously been imprisoned for terrorism, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said. He said the attacker, identified as Agus Sujatnowas released in 2021 and investigators had found dozens of documents protesting the country’s controversial new penal code at the crime scene.
Although the new penal code contains Sharia-based provisions, Islamist hardliners might have been angered by other articles that could be used to suppress the spread of extremist ideologies, analysts said.
West Java Police Chief Suntana told Metro TV that authorities found a blue motorcycle at the scene, which they believe was used by the assailant. Attached to the bike was a note bearing a message denouncing the new penal code as “an unfaithful product”, Suntana said. Todd Elliot, a security analyst, said it was likely the attack was an ideological rejection of the country’s new laws. “There are changes to the criminal code that hardliners would not support. . . including proscribed ideology which would also include extremist ideology. ”
Suicide bomber reportedly affiliated with IS-inspired Jamaah group Ansharout Daulah and had previously been imprisoned for terrorism, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said. He said the attacker, identified as Agus Sujatnowas released in 2021 and investigators had found dozens of documents protesting the country’s controversial new penal code at the crime scene.
Although the new penal code contains Sharia-based provisions, Islamist hardliners might have been angered by other articles that could be used to suppress the spread of extremist ideologies, analysts said.
West Java Police Chief Suntana told Metro TV that authorities found a blue motorcycle at the scene, which they believe was used by the assailant. Attached to the bike was a note bearing a message denouncing the new penal code as “an unfaithful product”, Suntana said. Todd Elliot, a security analyst, said it was likely the attack was an ideological rejection of the country’s new laws. “There are changes to the criminal code that hardliners would not support. . . including proscribed ideology which would also include extremist ideology. ”
