JAKARTA: A suspected militant, angered by Indonesia’s new criminal code, killed a police officer and wounded at least 10 in a suicide bomb attack at a police station in the city of Bandung on Wednesday (Dec 7), authorities said.
The suicide bomber was believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State-inspired group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and had previously been jailed on terrorism charges, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a news conference.
The police chief said the attacker, identified as Agus Sujatno, was released in late 2021 and investigators had found dozens of documents protesting the country’s controversial new criminal code at the crime scene.
“We found dozens of papers protesting the newly ratified criminal code,” he said.
Though there are syariah-based provisions in the new criminal code ratified by parliament on Tuesday, hardliners could have been angered by other articles that could be used to crack down on the propagation of extremist ideologies, analysts say.
West Java police chief Suntana earlier told Metro TV that authorities had found a blue motorbike at the scene, which they believed was used by the attacker.
Attached to the bike was a note carrying a message decrying the new criminal code as “an infidel product”, Suntana said.
Todd Elliott, a senior security analyst at Concord Consulting in Jakarta, said it was likely the attack had been planned for some time and was an ideological rejection of the country’s new laws.
“While all the attention is on some of these syariah-based provisions in the criminal code and how that is an indication of the spread of conservative Islam in Indonesia, there are also changes in the criminal code that hardliners would not support,” he said.
“Including outlawing any ideology that goes against the state ideology, Pancasila, and that would also include extremist ideology.”
The blast occurred at about 8am local time during roll call at the Astana Anyar police office in Bandung, the capital of Indonesia’s most populous province.
“When our officers were doing the morning roll call, a man tried to enter the office forcibly and officers tried to stop him,” said West Java police chief Suntana.
“The perpetrator insisted on getting closer to our officers while wielding a knife and suddenly an explosion happened,” he told reporters.
A civilian who was passing the area was among the wounded, who were mostly hit by shattered glass and debris, from the main blast, he added.
A second device was later found nearby and safely detonated by the police bomb squad, Suntana said.
