April 16, 2011
JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian police said Saturday they increased security measures in their headquarters across the nation after a suicide bomber blasted himself in a mosque inside a police compound.
A man believed to be in his late 20s to early 30s detonated explosives strapped to his body at a mosque in Cirebon, West Java province, where many police were performing Friday prayers.
"We're increasing security in police headquarters across the country regarding people coming in and out. But we are doing this subtly," Indonesia police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam told AFP.
The police said 30 people were injured by the low-level explosion, including Cirebon's police chief, and the attacker was killed instantly.
"Six people were badly wounded and 24 people who were lightly wounded," he added.
The police said body of the bomber had been brought to a police hospital in Jakarta for identification.
"We're still trying to identify the bomber, find out his background and his link. His age is about 25 to 35 years old," Alam said.
The Cirebon attack was the first suicide bombing inside a mosque in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
Last month, bombs hidden in a hollowed-out books were sent to several addresses including those of liberal Muslim figures and a counter-terrorism official, but no one was killed.
The last significant bombing in Indonesia was carried out by two suicide bombers who killed seven people at two luxurious Jakarta hotels in July 2009.
Islamist preacher Abu Bakar Bashir is currently on trial, facing the death penalty over charges including leading and financing a terror training camp discovered in Aceh last year.
Hundreds of suspected militants from the cell in Aceh, which had planned Mumbai-style attacks using squads of suicide gunmen against Westerners, have been arrested or killed.
