Failed Suicide Bomber Carrying ‘ISIS Flag’ Attacks Priest In A Church At Idonnesia

A supposed ISIS suicide bomber’s explosives failed to detonate during an attempted attack on a packed church in Indonesia. A teenager, reportedly carrying a drawing of the Isis flag, attacked a priest with an axe after the failed bid.

A man carrying explosives in a backpack attacked St. Yoseph Catholic Church

Teen suicide bomber carrying ‘Isis flag’ attacks priest with axe after explosives fail to detonate

The teenager launched at the priest with an axe leaving him with slight injuries to his arm

The young attacker targeted mass at an Indonesian church

A police spokesman said the teen left a bench and ran toward the priest at the altar, but homemade explosives only burned without detonating.

Before he was restrained by members of the congregation, the suspect managed to take an axe from his backpack and attack Priest Albert Pandiangan, causing a slight injury to the 60-year-old's arm.

Local chief detective Nur Fallah said: “Somebody tried to kill the priest by pretending to attend the church service and at that time tried to explode something, like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn't explode, it only fumed.”

The suspect is led out of the church in Indonesia by police

Police cordon off the church after the failed attack

The suspect's ID card and a drawing of the Isis flag were found at the scene

Police are interrogating the teenager, who is believed not have acted alone

Police have said the motive for the attack at the Roman Catholic St. Yoseph Church in Medan, is not clear.

The teenager reportedly carried a drawing of an Isis flag and his ID card.

Rina Sari Ginting, a spokeswoman for Medan police, said: "A terrorism act was carried out on Sunday morning at the Saint Joseph catholic church.

"Police are interrogating the perpetrator... and will search his house for any bomb-making materials."

The suspect has reportedly told police he was not working alone.

Local media have reported that the teenager is believed to have met an unidentified man on the street before the attack.

National Counterterrorism Agency chief Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius told local media outlet Beritasatu that the suspect is a "puppet", too young to have planned the attack on his own.

Suhardi said: “Considering his young age, there has to be someone else who supports him. We are currently digging to seek his identity."

The suspect reportedly wore a suicide vest and was carrying a knife, axe and a pipe bomb in his backpack.

Mass was being carried out at the church in Indonesia

Indonesian bomb experts at the church where a teenager launched a terror attack

An eyewitness, Markus Harianto Manullan, said: “He sat in the same row as I did... I saw him fiddling with something in his jacket, and then I heard a small explosion and he immediately ran to the podium.”

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has carried out a sustained crackdown on militant networks since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.


Source: thesun.co.uk