Breaking: Suspected Jihadists Attack Three Churches in Indonesia Leaving Scores Dead

JAKARTA: At least nine people were killed and 40 injured in a wave of blasts including a suicide bombing outside churches in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya on Sunday (May 13), police said, tripling the initial death toll.

“There have been three attacks at three churches,” East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

The deadly blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7.30 am (0030 GMT).

Indonesian intelligence agency officials have said that the bombings were suspected to have been carried out by Islamic State-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, although no one has claimed responsibility so far.

Television images showed debris scattered around the entrance of one church and police cordoning off areas as crowds gathered.

‘BOMB SECURED’

In an update, police said they “secured” an unexploded bomb in a church in Surabaya.

Authorities had earlier said they were investigating whether there was an explosion at a fourth church.

Police ordered the temporary closure of all churches in Surabaya, and a large food festival in the city was cancelled.

The bombings come days after Islamist militant prisoners killed five members of an elite counter-terrorism force during a 36-hour standoff at a high security jail on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.