SURABAYA, Indonesia \u2014 Suicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesia\u2019s second-largest city on Sunday were a family of six\u2026<\/b>
\nSURABAYA, Indonesia \u2014 Suicide bombers who carried out deadly attacks on three churches in Indonesia\u2019s second-largest city on Sunday were a family of six that included two young children, police said, as the world\u2019s most populous Muslim nation recoiled in horror at one of the worst attacks on its Christian minority.
At least 13 people, including all six family members, died in the attacks in Surabaya and at least 41 were injured, according to police, in acts that Indonesia\u2019s president condemned as \u201cbarbaric.\u201d
The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by militants.
National police chief Tito Karnavian said that the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother was with daughters aged 12 and 9 for her attack.
Karnavian said the family had returned to Indonesia from Syria, where until recently the Islamic State group controlled significant territory.
The extremist group claimed responsibility for Sunday\u2019s attacks in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.
The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in Surabaya, police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera told reporters at the scene. That blast was followed by a second explosion minutes later at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and a third at the city\u2019s Pantekosta Church, Mangera said.
A witness described the woman\u2019s attack at the Diponegoro church, saying she was carrying two bags when she arrived.
\u201cAt first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored them and forced her way inside. Suddenly she hugged a civilian then (the bomb) exploded,\u201d said the witness, a security guard who identified himself as Antonius.
Mangera said three unexploded homemade bombs, two at the Pantekosta church and one at the Diponegoro church, were detonated by a bomb squad.
Shattered glass and chunks of concrete littered the entrance of the Santa Maria Church, which was sealed off by armed police. Rescue personnel treated victims at a nearby field while officers inspected wrecked motorcycles in the parking lot that had been burned in the explosion.
A street merchant outside the church said she was blown several meters (yards) by the blast.
\u201cI saw two men riding a motorbike force their way into the churchyard. One was wearing black pants and one with a backpack,\u201d said the merchant, Samsia, who uses a single name. \u201cSoon after that the explosion happened.\u201d
President Joko \u201cJokowi\u201d Widodo visited the scenes of the attacks and described them as \u201ccowardly actions\u201d that were \u201cvery barbaric and beyond the limit of humanity.\u201d
In Jakarta, Indonesia\u2019s capital, the Indonesian Church Association condemned the attacks.
\u201cWe are angry,\u201d said Gormar Gultom, an official with the association, but urged people to let the police investigation take its course.
Indonesia\u2019s two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, also condemned the attacks.
Separately, national police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said police fatally shot four suspected militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java towns. It wasn\u2019t clear whether the shootings were connected to the church attacks.
\u201cThey have trained in order to attack police,\u201d Wasisto said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an Islamic State group-affiliated network of about two dozen extremist groups that has been implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year.
Jakarta police placed the capital and surrounding areas on high alert, while the transportation ministry warned airports to be on guard.
The church attacks came days after police ended a hostage-taking ordeal by imprisoned Islamic militants at a detention center near Jakarta in which six officers and three inmates died. IS claimed responsibility.
Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals in Bali in 2002 killed 202 people. In recent years, the country has faced a new threat as the rise of IS in the Middle East invigorated local militant networks.
Christians, many of whom are from the ethnic Chinese minority, make up about 9 percent of Indonesia\u2019s 260 million people.<\/p>\n

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