Multiple explosions at Indon school mosque injures 54
At least 54 people, mostly students, were injured in multiple explosions at a high school mosque during prayers in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, police said.
Eyewitnesses told local television stations they heard at least two loud explosions around noon Friday as the sermon began at the mosque at SMA 27, a public high school inside a naval compound in the Kelapa Gading district in northern Jakarta.
Students and others ran outside in panic as gray smoke filled the mosque.
Most of the victims suffered minor to serious injuries from broken glass. Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri said that the cause of the explosions was not yet known, but it came from near the mosque’s loudspeaker.
People were taken to nearby hospitals. The police chief said some were quickly sent home, but 20 students remained in hospital care, three of whom were seriously injured.
Suheri said that the bomb disposal team went to the scene and found toy rifles and toy guns near the mosque.
“Police are still investigating the scene to determine the cause of the explosions,” Suheri said, and called against speculation that the incident was an attack before the police investigation is completed.
“Let the authorities work first. Whatever the result, we will convey it to the public.”
