54 Injured in Bombing at Jakarta High School Mosque

Explosions rocked a mosque located on a high school campus in Jakarta, Indonesia, causing injuries to a minimum of 54 individuals, with most of them being students. According to Jakarta City Police Chief Asep Edi Suhaeri, the injured individuals have been swiftly transferred to hospitals, presenting injuries ranging from minor to severe, as reported by The Independent. The suspected attacker, a 17-year-old student, was among the injured.
Indonesia Police General Listyo Sigit Prabowo confirmed that the explosions occurred at 12:15 p.m. WID during Friday prayers. In the ongoing investigation, Prabowo stated, ‘including how the suspect assembled and carried out the attack.’ A student informed the Indonesian government-owned news agency Antara that the attacker brought a homemade bomb, indicating past instances of bullying by fellow students, as cited by the BBC.
Witnesses recounted that the student was a ‘loner’ who was often seen drawing violent images. Observers mentioned spotting him on the ground after the explosions. Images captured by Antara displayed items resembling guns; however, Indonesian politician Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus clarified that the images portrayed ‘a toy gun, not a real gun.’ Notably, one of the ‘toy guns’ featured inscriptions reading ’14 words. For Agartha’ and ‘Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell,’ as per the BBC.
Brenton Tarrant was the perpetrator of the 2019 mosque shooting in New Zealand, resulting in the deaths of 51 individuals. Paulus urged caution amongst the public, emphasizing that the incident’s nature was still under investigation, cautioning against immediate assumptions of it being a terrorist act. Detectives are actively looking into the matter for conclusive findings.