Jakarta - The wife and son of a
suspected militant Islamist blew themselves up in their home on
the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Wednesday after hours
of tense negotiations with counter-terrorism officers,
authorities said.
The world's largest Muslim-majority country has in recent
years struggled to contain a resurgence in homegrown radicalism
inspired in part by the Middle Eastern extremist group Islamic
State.
Police and bomb squad officers had surrounded the house in
Sibolga, North Sumatra, after arresting her husband a day
earlier over his suspected links to a planned attack on a local
police headquarters. The wife and child had remained in the
house.
"Police, religious figures and relatives of the suspect were
negotiating with the suspects and asked them to surrender but
they still stayed inside," said national police spokesman Dedi
Prasetyo.
During a standoff lasting nearly 12 hours, the wife
allegedly threw an explosive device at the security forces,
wounding a police officer and a civilian.
"At 1.25 a.m. the wife of the terrorist and their son blew
themselves up inside the house," Prasetyo said, adding the force
of the explosion sent debris flying at least a block away.
Police found about 30 kg of explosives at the site,
according to media reports. They did not elaborate on the age of
the son.
Armed police officers stand as they guard an area following an explosion after they arrested a suspected terrorist in Sibolga, North Sumatra. Picture: Antara Foto/Jason Gultom/via Reuters
Authorities believe the husband is part of Jemaah Ansharut
Daulah (JAD), the largest Islamic State-linked group in the
country, which was legally disbanded last year for "conducting
terrorism" and affiliating itself with the foreign militant
organisation.
The incident is reminiscent of a series of gruesome attacks
in the city of Surabaya last May, when whole families, including
children as young as nine, strapped on explosive vests and blew
themselves up at churches and police stations, killing more than
30 people.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which
prompted the world's largest Muslim-majority country to toughen
up its anti-terror laws. Since then, counter-terrorism police
looking to defuse homegrown radicalism have detained hundreds of
suspected militants.
Under the revised law, anyone suspected of planning an
attack can be held for up to 21 days for an initial inquiry and
for up to 200 days for a formal investigation.