At least 1 dead, 10 injured as suicide bombers attack police headquarters in Surabaya

Just one day after 13 people were killed in Indonesia during coordinated suicide bombings targeting three churches (read here), another bomb attack has been carried out in Indonesia, this time, the target is a police headquarters in Surabaya.

A family of five, including an eight-year-old girl, carried out the bomb attack on a police headquarters in Surabaya killing at least one person and injuring 10, an Indonesian police official has said.

The blast occurred at 8.50am, said East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera. Police confirmed the attack was carried out by a family of five, including an eight-year-old girl, who drove up to the gates of the police station on two motorcycles and then detonated the explosives at the security checkpoint. The young girl is now recovering in hospital.

Frans Barung Mangera said: "A child who was with them, an eight-year-old girl... has been taken to the hospital."



Police outside the station following the blast



At least one fatality has been confirmed while four policemen and civilians were injured when they were caught up in the blast. The full death toll has not been announced but initial reports said at least seven had been killed in the attack.

Mangera told a briefing: "Clearly it’s a suicide bombing. We can’t open up all details yet because we are still identifying victims at the scene and the crime scene is being handled."

Addressing both the three-pronged attack on Sunday and those on the police station on Monday morning, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said: "This is the act of cowards, undignified and barbaric."

He said he would make sure that a new anti-terrorism law was passed through parliament by next month to combat the networks of Islamic militants in Indonesia.





A still from a video reportedly showing two motorbikes exploding outside police headquarters in Surabaya, Indonesia



Monday’s blast comes after another family carried out bomb attacks on three churches on Sunday. The family of six consisted of a couple and their four children aged between 9 and 18.

Also on Sunday evening, a bomb explosion in an apartment building in East Java killed three people, just kilometers away and hours after Sunday’s Surabaya attack. Residents reported hearing multiple blasts from the fifth floor of the Wonocolo apartment building in Sidoarjo, at about 9pm on Sunday.

Frans Burung Mangera said the explosion killed three people; a father, mother and their child. Two other children, a son and daughter from the same family, were rushed to Siti Khodijah hospital for treatment. However, according to East Java police, the parents and children were the ones who carried out the attack.

"They are the perpetrators, not victims," East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Mahfud Arifin said on Monday.

Local news portal Kumparan reported the father, identified as Anton Febrianto, 47, was holding the trigger to a bomb when police arrived. He was shot dead before he could detonate.

Police are investigating possible links between the Sidoarjo and Surabaya blasts but are yet to provide further details.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State group has said it was behind those attacks carried out on Sunday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.