At least seven people died in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12.
SURABAYA, Indonesia — Coordinated suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family struck three churches in Indonesia’s second-largest city Sunday, as the world’s most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of its worst attacks since the 2002 Bali bombings.
At least seven people died at the churches in Surabaya along with the six family members, the youngest of whom were girls aged 9 and 12, according to police. Another 41 people were injured.
Indonesia’s president condemned the attacks as « barbaric. » National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father detonated a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother and her two daughters wore explosives.
Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently ISIS controlled significant territory. The terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. It didn’t mention anything about families or kids taking part and said there were only three attackers.
Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attack occurred in 2002, when bombs exploded on the tourist island of Bali, killing 202 people in one night, mostly foreigners. But the fact that children were involved in Sunday’s attacks in Surabaya shocked and angered the country.
Experts on militant networks have warned for several years that the estimated 1,100 Indonesians who traveled to Syria to join ISIS posed a threat if they returned home. Karnavian identified the father as Dita Futrianto — who drove a bomb-laden car into the city’s Pentecostal church — and said he was head of the Surabaya cell of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Indonesian militant network affiliated with ISIS.
The mom, Puji Kuswati, with her two daughters, attacked the Christian Church of Diponegoro. Based on their remains, police said they were all wearing explosives around their waists.
