A suicide bomber attacked a packed Indonesian church Sunday wounding at least 27 people, some critically, and sending terrified worshippers rushing out into the streets in panic. The morning bombing in the city of Solo, in central Java, was the latest in a spate of attacks on minority religious groups in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. Solo, a city of 500,000, is the home of militant Islamist spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir, who was jailed in June for 15 years for funding a terrorist group that was planning attacks against Westerners and political leaders. Police earlier reported that one person had been killed in the attack, but later clarified that the only person who died was the bomber.
Kristanto, a worshipper, said he and his wife were getting ready to leave at the end of the service at the Bethel Injil Church when the bomb rocked the building. “I was about to head home when a very loud explosion shocked me. A crowd of people from inside the church rushed to the streets,” he told AFP. “They were screaming and very hysterical. The peaceful Sunday has quickly become a chaotic situation.” “I helped several people who were injured and lying weak on the ground,” said the badly shaken 53-year-old, who goes by one name.
The bomber was inside the church with worshippers when he got up and detonated the bomb on his way out.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Djoko Suyanto, said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had strongly condemned “the act of terrorism.” “Nothing can justify this inhuman act,” Suyanto told Elshinta radio. “It is the task of everybody to overcome this act of terrorism.” An AFP correspondent saw the apparent bomber's body on the ground at the church's main entrance. He was wearing a white shirt and black trousers.
Most of Indonesia's 200 million Muslims are moderates, but the country has struggled to deal with a radical fringe of extremists who have carried out numerous attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated recently. In June, a Muslim cleric was sentenced to one year in jail for inciting hundreds of people to burn churches and attack police. Seventeen men were also jailed for up to five months for February attacks on churches in the town of Temanggung, on Java.
