Three knife attacks on the same day: Jakarta suspects terrorist plot

The incidents took place in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara Timur, West Java and Central Java: Two dead and 15 wounded. The survivors were stabbed in the neck: "The method of attack recalls the assassination of Fr. Jacques Hamel ".

 

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Three knife attacks took place yesterday in very similar ways in different parts of Indonesia. The first happened in the island of Sabu Raijua, in the province of East Nusa Tanggara Timur (NTT): n assailant attacked a group of primary school children with a knife, wounding seven, one critically. Later, the assailant was lynched by the crowd. The police said that the culprit might have had mental problems.

The island of Sabu Raijua is a peripheral place and many Indonesians do not even know where it is. To reach it you have to make an overnight ferry crossing from Kupang (west of Timor). All seven children were stabbed in the neck. Many police officers were deployed on the island to prevent further incidents of violence by local inhabitants. The assailant was from Dapok (West Java) and is described as "non-Christian."

The second incident occurred in Bandung (West Java), where the 19 year old Muhammad Aziz Ghozali lashed out at the crowd armed with three knives. The young man killed one person and wounded eight others. The police said that Ghozali is originally from Bandung and is currently unemployed.

The third incident took place in Yogyakarta (Central Java), where a fight between two groups of young people caused one death.

Police spokesman Martin Sitompul, said that officers were investigating a series of knife attacks that occurred on the same day. Public opinion questions whether this is a coincidence or if there is some terrorist cell behind these episodes. The second hypothesis is strengthened by the method of killing chosen by the attackers, reminiscent of the attack on the priest from Medan last August, and the killing of Fr. Jacques Hamel in Rouen (France).

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