Newlyweds Suspected To Have Blown Themselves Up In Church Attack in Indonesia

Churches have been targeted in the past by extremists in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation AFP / INDRA ABRIYANTO

KEY POINTS

Both suspects employed in private sector and worked for Jemaah Anshorut Daulah
The Jemaah Anshorut Daulah is a radical group affiliated with Islamic State group.
Police linked one of the couples to a deadly 2019 terrorist attack that claimed the lives of almost two dozen people at a local church.

Two suicide bombers suspected to have launched an attack on a Catholic church in Makassar, South Sulawesi, were husband and wife, Indonesian authorities have said.

Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) Commissioner-General Boy Rafli Amar said they had uncovered the suspects' identity. They were employees in the private sector and active members of the Jemaah Anshorut Daulah (JAD), a radical group affiliated with the Islamic State group, which was also associated with the 2018 Surabaya bombings and the 2019 Jolo Cathedral bombings in the Philippines.

The police have also linked one of the suspects to a deadly 2019 terrorist attack that claimed the lives of almost two dozen people at a local church.

An Indonesian National Police spokesman said the pair got married six months ago. The couple are millennials, one of them born in 1995, Inspector General Argo Yuwono added. However, Indonesian authorities have yet to release the names of the suspects, pending further investigation.

According to various reports, the pair detonated an improvised explosive device (IEDs) when guards outside the church confronted them on Palm Sunday. Both the suspects perished in the attack while wounding 20 people; as of Monday, 15 people have remained in the hospital. The couple used pressure cookers to conceal the explosive devices.

In a press statement issued by the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, the United States "strongly condemned the attack in Makassar." Adding that "attacks on congregants praying are an affront to the tolerance and diversity that the Indonesian people uphold."

The Islamic State of Iraq has been claiming responsibility for attacks conducted by Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). The U.S. State Department officially identified the group as a terrorist organization in 2017.

In 2018, a South Jakarta court outlawed the organization, allowing its members and organizers to be arrested by Indonesian authorities. Two JAD members were also believed to have conducted the attacks on security minister Wiranto in October 2019.

Wiranto was hospitalized, while three other people, including a policeman, were stabbed and injured by the attack.