Let us place trust in the police to handle this case. It is so dangerous if it is kept unresolvedJayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in Papua has called on interfaith communities to exercise restraint following a church bombing attack in Makassar City on Sunday.
"Let us place trust in the police to handle this case. It is so dangerous if it is kept unresolved," MUI-Papua Office Head Syaiful Al Payage stated.
Payage denounced the suicide bombers, who blew themselves up at the Catholic church's gate on Sunday morning, as the attack was not justifiable on any grounds.
"We are optimistic that the National Police would solve the case and hunt those responsible for the bombing attack down," he stated.
Payage highlighted the importance of the police's successful crackdown on the perpetrators to ensure that congregations can perform their religious rituals in a secure and comfortable manner.
In tackling the rising threats of extremists' ideology, the MUI-Papua Office head suggested to the Ministry of Religious Affairs to strengthen preventive measures through education.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a church on Kajaolalido Road in the Baru neighborhood area of Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi Province, on Sunday.
The couple attempted to enter the church compound but to no avail after security guards stopped them at the gate when a Palm Sunday Mass service had recently concluded.
Some 20 people, including churchgoers and the church's security guards at the gate, got injured in the blast.
The suicide bombers, who reportedly belong to a JAD network, died shortly after conducting their attack by using a pressure cooker bomb at about 10:30 a.m. local time.
Since 2000, Indonesia has become the target of terrorist attacks, and the spread of radicalism and terrorism continues to threaten the nation.
ANTARA highlighted the repeated incidents of assaults by suspected terrorists and armed Papuan rebels on civilians and security personnel in 2020.
On May 22, 2020, for instance, notorious armed rebels reportedly shot at two medical workers -- Almalek Bagau and Eunico Somou -- from the Wandai Health Center in Intan Jaya District, Papua Province, while they were delivering drugs for COVID-19 patients.
In another incident on June 1, 2020, a lone wolf assaulted Brigadier Leonardo Latupapua, a policeman of the Daha Selatan police precinct in South Kalimantan Province. Latupapua succumbed to grave injuries following the early morning attack.
On June 21, 2020, a man unexpectedly attacked Second Brigadier Hanif Ariyono, a driver of Deputy Chief of Karanganyar Police Commissioner Busroni's official vehicle, with a machete in Karanganyar District, Central Java Province.
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Hendrina DK, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
