An explosion on Tuesday outside the police headquarters in Surakarta, Central Java, may have been small in comparison to suicide bombings in Baghdad, Dhaka and Istanbul in the past week, but it still raises questions that the government needs to answer as the nation prepares to celebrate Idul Fitri.

The Tuesday attack did not claim the lives of any victims and injured only one officer, a stark contrast to the bombings in Istanbul, with 45 deaths, Dhaka (20 victims) and Baghdad (more than 200 victims). The Islamic State (IS) movement has claimed the latter two. It has not claimed the attack on the Istanbul airport, although the Turkish government believes IS was responsible.

The most recent terror attacks prior to the Surakarta blast took place in three cities in Saudi Arabia, including Medina, one of Islam’s holiest cities. IS has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed six people.

The National Police have identified Nur Rohman as the IS supporter who blew himself up at the entrance to the Surakarta police headquarters. A source at the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) revealed Nur was a member of a homegrown IS cell led by Arief Hidayatullah, alias Abu Musab, who was detained by the police in December last year for allegedly plotting a New Year’s Eve attack.

“Nur Rohman escaped arrest during the December crackdown,” said the officer. Nur was suspected by the authorities of possessing several explosive devices when he escaped the police’s crackdown in December. One of the bombs was believed to have been used in Tuesday’s attack in Surakarta.

It remains unclear, however, if IS in Mosul and Syria directly coordinated the Surakarta attack.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is scheduled to celebrate Idul Fitri in Surakarta on Wednesday. The attack has not stopped him from returning to his hometown. “Nothing changes. My plan remains the same,” he told reporters in Padang, West Sumatra, on Tuesday.

Despite the attack, Idul Fitri festivities are continuing, with millions of urban dwellers returning to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday with family.

The National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) have deployed up to 1,200 armed personnel to secure airports since Monday, before the attack.

According to the Institute of Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), IS supporters in Indonesia are divided and are hostile to each other. The group claimed responsibility for a Jan. 14 attack in Jakarta that killed eight people — four civilians and four perpetrators. However, IPAC suggested many IS supporters in the country did not know about the Sarinah terror plot, which it said was initiated by a local IS faction led by Aman Abdurrahman.

Aman is linked to Abu Jandal, one of three Indonesian IS fighters in Syria and Iraq who have been fighting over the leadership of IS in Southeast Asia. IPAC has alleged that the Sarinah attack was partly triggered by a competition between pro-IS groups loyal to Abu Jandal and the two other Indonesian IS fighters, Bahrun Na’im and Bachrumsyah.

A source from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) claimed that Nur Rohman and Arief were loyal to Bahrun Naim, who it believed had played a role in masterminding the January attack.

Speaking on Metro TV, State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso said he suspected IS of being responsible for the Surakarta blast. BIN have identified a number of IS supporters countrywide, Sutiyoso said, adding there is a concentration of supporters located in and around Surakarta who are thought to be preparing attacks.

“There are a number of IS supporters here who decided not to depart for Iraq and Syria. Instead, they aim to target police and intelligence personnel here,” he said.

IS, which claims to have revived an ancient caliphate in the lands it controls in Syria and Iraq, is losing territory, while many of thousands of fighters have been decimated by the Iraqi army and an anti-IS coalition led by the US. Analysts believe IS has shifted its strategy by stepping up attacks in cities outside Mosul and Raqqa, including in Southeast Asia.

Last month, the group released a video announcing the creation of a regional faction in Southeast Asia. In the video, an IS fighter from Malaysia asks supporters in the region not to travel to Syria but instead launch small-scale attacks in their countries. He also asks them to unite under the leadership of Isnilon Hapilon, alias Abu Abdullah, leader of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, which has previously kidnapped foreigners for ransom.    

IPAC director Sidney Jones said a June 28 grenade attack by IS supporters on a pub in Puchong, Malaysia, noted as the first successful attack by IS in the country, and the terror attack in Surakarta were a sign of IS’ growing clout in the region. The attacks, Jones said, could have been inspired by the recent appointment of Abu Abdullah as IS’ leader in Southeast Asia.

“As IS comes under more pressure in the Middle East, it wants to see more attacks elsewhere,” she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Tuesday also saw a car bomb at a major checkpoint in Thailand’s insurgency-torn south, which wounded two officers, police said as quoted by Agence France-Presse. No one had claimed responsibility for the attack in Nong Chik district, Pattani province, as of Tuesday afternoon.

President Jokowi condemned the attack on the eve of Idul Fitri and called on people to remain calm. “Any violence in the name of anything is unjustified. I condemn the bombing in Surakarta,” Jokowi told reporters, as broadcast by Metro TV on Tuesday.

Leaders of major Muslim organizations Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama have also condemned the wave of terror attacks within and outside of Indonesia that were launched in the name of Islam, saying the acts were un-Islamic. (ary/evi)

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Jakarta Post

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