A suspected suicide bomber who was also armed with a knife has detonated a device shortly after entering a police station in West Java, killing one police officer and wounding several, Indonesian authorities have said.
The attack took place at about 8:20am local time (01:20 GMT) during roll call at the Astana Anyar police office in the city of Bandung, the provincial capital.
” … a man trespassed while wielding a sharp weapon, he was trying to get through to the police doing the roll call,” Bandung police chief Aswin Sipayung told Indonesia’s Kompas TV.
Ahmad Ramadhan, head of the public information bureau for the National Police, said Bandung police were investigating the incident in coordination with Indonesia’s counterterrorism unit.
The ISIL-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) group may have been behind the attack, Ibnu Suhendra of Indonesia’s counterterrorism agency (BNPT) told Metro TV.
JAD was banned in 2018 after a series of suicide bombings at churches in Surabaya, the country’s second biggest city. The group was also behind a deadly attack in Jakarta in 2016.
Wednesday’s attack also wounded eight others, including one civilian, Ibrahim Tompo, a spokesperson for the West Java police, told reporters on Metro TV.
Footage from the Indonesian broadcaster showed damage to the police station, with some debris from the building on the ground and smoke rising from the scene.
Hardliners have carried out attacks at churches, police stations and other locations in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, although their frequency has declined in recent years.
