At least 54 people injured in explosions at Indonesian school mosque | Indonesia

At least 54 people were injured in the explosion that occurred in a high school mosque during Friday prayers in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. Authorities later said the suspect was a 17-year-old male student who was injured and was in surgery.

Eyewitnesses told local television stations they heard at least two loud explosions around noon, as the sermon began, from inside and outside the mosque at SMA 72, a public high school located within a navy compound in the Kelapa Gading district in northern Jakarta.

Students and others ran outside in panic as gray smoke filled the mosque.

Police said they found a toy submachine gun inscribed with white supremacist slogans that belonged to the suspect.

After visiting the victims at the hospital, Parliament speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told reporters that the suspect was a “17-year-old male student” and was in surgery. He did not give further details.

National police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the suspect was one of two students who had surgery due to the explosions.

“Our staff is currently conducting an in-depth investigation to determine the identity of the suspect and his living environment, including his home and others,” Sigit said at a press conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta. he said.

Sigit said investigators were gathering information to determine a motive for the incident, including how the suspect was able to assemble a toy submachine gun inscribed with a white supremacist slogan, a reference to the 2019 mass shooting at a mosque and Islamic center in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people and injured dozens more.

“We discovered that the gun was a toy gun with certain markings on it, we are also investigating to understand why, including how he assembled it and carried out the attack,” Sigit said.

Many of the victims suffered burns and injuries from flying glass. The type of explosive used is not yet known, but according to Jakarta police chief Asep Edi Suheri, the explosions came from near the mosque’s loudspeaker.

Police warned against speculation that the incident was a terrorist attack before their investigation was completed.

Police confirmed that they were investigating local media reports that the suspect was a 12th grade student who was bullied and wanted to take revenge by carrying out an act that amounted to a suicide attack.

“We are still investigating the possibility that bullying was a factor that motivated the suspect to carry out the attack,” Jakarta police spokesman Budi Hermanto told reporters late Friday. he said.

“Since witnesses are also victims who need medical treatment to recover, there are various barriers to obtaining information from them,” Hermanto said, adding that authorities provide “trauma healing” for students and teachers.

He revised the number of injured to 54 instead of 55 as police had previously said, and said most of the victims were standing close to loudspeakers and suffered hearing loss due to explosions inside the mosque. Approximately 33 students remained in two hospitals due to burns and wounds caused by explosion fragments.

Hermanto stated that the capital is safe and security is under control and urged people not to be worried.

Videos circulating on social media show dozens of uniformed students running in panic on the school’s basketball court, some covering their ears with their hands to protect themselves from the explosions.

Some of the injured were carried to waiting vehicles on stretchers.

Şok’s relatives gathered at the centers established in Yarsi and Cempaka Putih hospitals to get information about their relatives. Parents told television channels that their child was injured when shrapnel hit his head, feet and hands.