By Ananda Teresia and Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Explosions at a mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta that injured dozens of people during Friday prayers could have been an attack, officials indicated, with a 17-year-old identified as the suspected perpetrator.
Police said 55 people were in hospitals with a range of minor to serious injuries, including burns, after the blasts at the mosque inside a school complex in the Kelapa Gading area.
“The explosion was loud, so loud that I could not breathe because I was shocked,” said Luciana, 43, who was working at the school canteen at the time. She described multiple blasts and panic as dozens fled the complex.
“I thought it was a short circuit or the sound system which exploded – we were so afraid so we rushed out.”
Deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, speaking to media after visiting a hospital, said the young male suspect was undergoing surgery, without giving more details or possible motive.
INVESTIGATION
At a news conference, Jakarta city police chief Asep Edi Suheri said a probe was underway.
“We have taken several measures such as investigating the crime scene, setting up a police line and sterilising the area,” Suheri said.
Indonesia does have a history of attacks on churches and Western targets – but not mosques. Islamist militancy has largely been suppressed in recent years.
News channel KompasTV showed footage of a green-painted mosque with a line of shoes outside, cordoned off with police tape. There were no signs of damage to the exterior.
State news agency Antara quoted the deputy chief security minister Lodewijk Freidrich as saying there were two explosions.
Black-clad police carrying assault rifles guarded the iron gates of the compound, with emergency vehicles and armoured police vehicles on the street outside.
The complex is located in a crowded area of North Jakarta on largely navy-owned land, home to many military personnel and retired officers.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto, Ananda Teresia, Willy Kurniawan and Johan Purnomo; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Martin Petty and Andrew Cawthorne)
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